Learning through Percy's Eyes
by PercyJacksonlover95
Summary: Hera wants to slow the demigods at Camp Half Blood down, they can't find Percy until the right time, so she sends the demigods back in time. The Fates take this time reveal Percy's story. Jason, Piper and Leo learn about the famous here, while the Gods listen to a story that they are helpless to change.
1. Chapter 1

The sounds of construction filled the camp. It was a sound that everyone was used too. Only the Hephaestus cabin thought it was pleasant. Leo in particular loved the noise, it was music to his ears. He was building the greatest ship in history. Or at least that is what he told himself. He had a lot riding on him, he could not afford to be anything less than the best.

Leo looked up, his ship was beautiful, the hull was almost complete. Even with Gaea's interruptions and stalls, he could finish this ship before there solstice deadline. The one thing that Gaea did not count on was the fact that every single person at the camp wanted Percy back. Leo had never seen a better motivator. Every single person in the camp helped with the ship. When Gaea or one of her minions caused the base of the ship to break, everyone came together, not sleeping until it was repaired. Every cabin said they owed Percy.

The frustrating thing was no one tell would tell him why. All Leo, Jason and Piper knew was Percy was hailed as the hero of Olympus. No one would talk about him though. Leo knew why; Annabeth. She said anyone was welcome to tell Percy's stories, though nothing beat hearing them for him. Leo wasn't sure if Annabeth meant for everyone to think that if they talked about Percy it meant that he wasn't coming back. But now the camp had decided, Leo Jason, and Piper would just have to ask Percy. Leo couldn't wait to meet this guy. All he was going to ask him was; why are you so damn special?

Piper was standing inside the hull of the Argo II, Leo's pride and joy. She and her cabin had been tasked with painting. Leo would not stand for anything less than perfection. She knew that her friend was close to buckling under the pressure. This was different from their quest. On the quest no one was watching, at least not this closely. Leo was being watched by every single soul in Camp. They were all dying to see their friend Percy Jackson. There hopes of seeing him were resting on the fact that this ship would be ready.

Piper was dying of curiosity, she had no where near enough information on the great Percy Jackson. According to her cabin mates he was the most attractive boy to ever step foot in Camp. She couldn't believe this, she thought a certain son of Jupiter had that crown. Among other things she learned that he was greatest boyfriend ever. That was something she didn't doubt, every time she saw Annabeth she radiated love. It was in the form of longing, but she was indeed the most inlove person Piper had ever met. Whatever she shared with Percy, it was powerful. It was definitely true love.

Piper had also examined the older campers beads. She had seen a trident; she knew it was the year Percy arrived. He was the most significant occurrence of the year. Lacy let it slip that every bead had something to do with him. She was anticipating meeting this boy. She knew that he was a great hero. Piper thought she knew the greatest. But perhaps she may be wrong.

Jason stood atops Half-Blood hill. He could see everything in Camp. But it wasn't his camp. No matter how hard he tried; he knew that everyone mistrusted him. He was an outsider, stranger and a Roman. Jason knew that every time someone saw him they thought of Percy. Jason realized that he never measured up, because every time there was a sigh of disappointment. Jason could see it in every campers eyes Why couldn't you be more like Percy, or Percy would have done it better. Jason didn't want to feel bitter, but he couldn't help it. He had spent twelve years trying to be a leader, he had finally achieved it. The Romans had always looked up to him. At Camp Jupiter he was second to no one, except perhaps Reyna. He had always been the powerful one, the leader, the hero. Now he was second best not even, his sister, Annabeth even the son of Hades were above him. He wasn't even feared; Nico held that crown. Annabeth was respected and Thalia was the powerful. Jason was just the Roman.

All Jason wanted to do was understand why? He wanted to know what was so special about Percy. Annabeth refused to talk about him; Jason understood why. But the rest of the Camp wouldn't talk either. Annabeth had accidently put a stop to that. Chiron would always claim it wasn't his place. It was frustrating to say the least. Jason sat down. He saw Annabeth.

She was at the lake. She always sat at the lake. She would have her notes and her laptop and sit. She said it was the only place she could think. Everyone knew it was because she missed Percy. His presence was strongest there. To Jason the sea always was foriegn, he only feared it. Annabeth would sometimes just close her eyes or just stare. Jason had never seen her shed a tear, Annabeth refused to show weakness. Something about Percy wouldn't want it. Everyone knew that Annabeth had broken down a few times, but no one could question to her strenght. Jason knew the Percy was one heck of a guy because Annabeth was in love with him.

Jason would have kept on musing if his sister hadn't appeared right behind him.

"Hey there baby bro." She said; Jason smiled. It was still so strange to have a sister. But if he had to have a sister, he couldn't imagine a cooler one than Thalia.

She was dressed like her usual self, black boots, black ripped jeans, a Kinks t-shirt and her leather jacket.

"Hey Thalia" Jason said smiling.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Thalia asked; she followed Jason line of sight; there she spotted Annabeth. Thalia's heart sighed.

"Annabeth, and Percy?"

Jason nodded.

"Can you please tell me something about him?" Jason begged.

Thalia sighed and sat down. "It isn't that easy. But I will try."

Jason smiled; finally he was getting answers, he just didn't realize how hard this was for Thalia.

"See this Camp" Jason nodded "Everything here has been impacted by Percy. And I mean everything, the cabins, the rules, the atmosphere and most importantly the campers."

Jason knew that he was important, but just wow. He knew he had not made that big of an impact anywhere.

"Percy can be the goofiest guy ever, yet the most terrifying guy ever, he is like the ocean. His moods are constantly changing, he doesn't listen to anyone. He won't be restrained. He will only do the right thing no matter the price."

Thalia's heart sighed; she missed Kelp Head. No matter the fights she had always admired the moron. He had fought for his friends, he stood up to everyone. Most importantly he was able to carry the weight of the prophecy without the temptation of turning. Thalia had always wished she had his loyalty. When she got her hands on him, she would kill him. How dare he go and let himself be kidnapped by the moronic goddess Hera.

Jason was digesting the new information. It was clear his sister admired Percy. Jason just wished he could met Percy Jackson, and see for himself. He always felt he understood people best when he saw the face to face. The pause in the conversation tipped Jason off, he could see that Thalia wasn't happy in the conversation. No matter how curious Jason was he, he cared for his sister more. Answers could wait.

Both Thalia and Jason were sitting in comfortable silence. They were about to get up when out of nowhere the son of Hades showed.

"Death breath" Thalia said with amusement.

"Pine Cone face and Sparky" Nico acknowledged Jason as well. Jason was still recovering from the shock of Nico showing up from out of nowhere. It was creepy.

"Nico" was all Jason managed.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia asked; unfazed by Nico's appearance. She enjoyed spending time with her annoying cousin.

"I could ask you the same question" Nico retorted.

Thalia laughed "you haven't changed."

"Why would I, I am awesome." Nico said; he always felt more light around Camp-Halfblood. It reminded him of Percy.

"I came here to check up on things. Jason, Annabeth you know" Thalia stated; she had gotten a break. Artemis had not been able to sneak out some secret orders. Zeus was watching her too closely. Even though the huntresses were immortal Zeus claimed that they were too close to demigods. Her idiot father Thalia thought.

Nico nodded; "Me too, I wanted to see how the search for Percy is going."

Nico had been constantly checking the Roman camp and he was yet to see Percy. His father had warned him/ forbidden him to meddle. Nico just wanted to make sure Percy was alright.

Jason was standing there like an idiot. He decided to motion them back into camp. Nico and Thalia followed.

Piper saw Jason walking with Nico and Thalia. She thought that something important had happened. She followed, Leo was not going to be left behind.

Leo turned to Will; he was a leader at camp, so everyone would listen to him. "No matter what do not slow down, keep building. I will be right back."

Will nodded.

Leo noticed they were walking towards Annabeth. He followed. Annabeth looked away from her notes. She sighed; she wasn't heartbroken she thought to herself. That would mean she lost someone. And Percy wasn't gone, she would see him again. She was not going to break down. Annabeth knew that when she went missing, Percy went across the country to look for her, he hadn't given up. Neither would she. She just wished she knew where to search.

Her demigod sense informed her of that people were behind her. She turned and saw, Nico and Thalia. That made her happy. And then she looked towards Piper, Leo and Jason.

Annabeth liked Piper she thought she was a strong warrior, Leo was goofy, but Annabeth had a strong appreciation for goofy. Then there was Jason. Every time she saw him a bitter taste filled her mouth. He was a painful reminder of the exchange.

"Hey what are you all doing here?" Annabeth asked.

"We are here to help" Thalia stated; she wasn't going to baby Annabeth; this was her way of supporting her friend.

Annabeth nodded looking towards Leo, Jason and Piper. "I was curious" Piper stated and Leo agreed.

"If you guys want my skeletons can speed up the building." Nico piped in; he hated to see Annabeth sad. She and Percy had done so much for him. He always paid his debts.

Leo looked shocked. The idea of skeleton warriors scared him. Would they mess up his ship?

"His skeletons are great at building; the Hades Cabin is a good example." Annabeth pointed out, she put on a brave face. She refused to show weakness.

Hera watched the demigods. They were extremely determined. At this rate they would sail to Camp Jupiter far ahead of their deadline. Percy has barely awoken. This would not bode well. Even Gaea's delays would not slow them down.

Hera sighed; she had to do something. But no matter what she did they would return. Hera knew that the perfect place to send them was Olympus, just not currently. If she sent them back in time, it would delay them long enough for them to meet their deadline when they should. Percy Jackson needed more time. I would provide it for him Hera thought.

Hera drew on the power of happy marriages and families to send the demigods back to the winter solstice before Percy Jackson came to camp.

And in a sudden flash Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, Leo, Piper and Jason travelled right into the Olympian throne room, just as the winter solstice was about to begin.

To say that everyone was shocked was an understatement. All the Olympians were uncharacteristically quiet. Zeus recognized his two children immediately. This was not good the King of the Gods thought. Why was Jason their he was a Roman, not that it would make a difference to his brothers, they would punish Thalia and Jason equally. Both of his children were now in grave danger. His brothers would kill them, because he had broken his oath. Then he realized his daughter was alive. What in the name of Hades was going on? All Zeus knew was; he needed to protect his children. He pulled out lightning bolt he was ready.

Hades too recognized his son. He was slightly older, that made no sense. He should be in the Lotus Casino. Where was his sister? What was going on? Gods his brothers would assume he broke his vow. He needed to grab his child and run. No Olympian would give him the benefit of the doubt. Even he could not fight 11 immortal gods at once.

All six demigods were shocked. What was going on?

Annabeth swallowed her fear and spoke. "What is going on? Please what just happened?'

"Why don't you tell us godling?" Zeus hissed.

"Um...we were at Camp Half-blood there was a light and poof" Annabeth tried to explain.

"What color was the light?" Athena asked; she recognized her daughter; she was far too old. Time travel was indeed involved.

"I think it was white" Annabeth said. Everyone else nodded.

The gods all realized time travel was involved. This was not good. The Fates punished everyone who meddled with time.

"Introduce yourselves." Poseidon demanded; he had a sinking suspicion that both his brothers' children were here. They both had a guilty look on their face.

"I am Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, please Lord Poseidon what has happened?"

"You time travelled; a foolish and rash God or Goddess sent you back in time." Poseidon answered gravely.

Annabeth looked at her friends, she motioned to Leo. "Um, hey I am Leo Valdez and my Dad is Hephaestus." He waved at his dad. Hephaestus nodded in response.

"I am Piper Mclean. Daughter of Aphrodite." Aphrodite could tell her daughter was a charm-speaker instantly. She also thought she could do with a makeover, but she had her own distinct beauty.

Thalia took a deep breath. Jason was about to speak but she shook her head. If the other Gods were going to be angry with a child of the big three, it was going to be her. She was used to it.

"I am Thalia Grace Daughter of Zeus."

The reaction was immediate. Poseidon had his trident out and Hades prepared to smite her.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Zeus roared.

"Why brother?" Hades spit out. "You tried to kill my children, now I will return the favor!"

Nico wasn't going to let that happen. He stepped in-front of Thalia; who was preparing for a blow.

"THEN YOU WILL HAVE TO KILL ME TWO FATHER!" Nico shouted.

Everyone's attention was on him.

"What are you doing? Idiot" Thalia hissed.

"Doing what Percy would do?' Nico whispered. "I am Nico Di Angelo Son of Hades."

Poseidon on the other hand calmed down. He too had a son, if both his brothers broke the vow; then his son was safer.

"It seems that both Hades and Zeus broke the vow?" Hera said; she was planning to keep the peace. She saw Jason Grace.

"I didn't" Hades hissed.

"Your son is standing right their!" Poseidon yelled; he needed both his brothers to be guilty.

"He was born over 60 years ago! I hid him so that my own brothers wouldn't kill him and his sister!"

Zeus was the only one who looked ashamed. Poseidon really hadn't interfered.

"There is one more demigod" Athena pointed out; trying to control the situation. Unaware that she was about to make it worse.

Jason froze; it had to be him. Thalia was ready to jump in-front of her brother.

"Jason, my name is Jason Grace"

Right as he said Grace Hades dove at his brother. He would not change into his true Godly form, he may harm his own son.

Zeus could not change either. The demigods were frozen in fear.

The Gods sighed.

Poseidon watched the brawl; it was pretty close. Both were hitting each other hard. A punch between to Gods hurt. He could feel an earthquake and thunderstorm coming.

"What are you waiting for stop it?!" Athena shouted.

Poseidon sighed. It was his responsibility. He grabbed his trident sprayed his brothers with enough water to separate them.

"Now Zeus you really did deserve that punch."

Zeus sighed; he might have, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

Jason thought it was best to point out he was Roman. "I am a son of Jupiter by the way."

"That makes it no less a mistake!" Hades hissed; he was wondering which monsters to send after this new demigod.

Hestia decided it was time to intervene. "All of you stop. In case you forgot you cannot kill them, you cannot meddle with the future. What year are you from demigod?'

Annabeth pointed to Piper; her voice was their only shot right now.

"The year 2012."

The Gods sighed; that meant that Thalia was already 16.

"Did the prophecy come true?" Zeus asked nervously.

Thalia nodded "I was not the child. Father I am immortal at 15."

"Then the son of Hades"

Nico shook his head.

"Where is your sister Nico?' Hades asked; she would have reached the age of 16.

"She died before she turned 16." Nico said sadly.

"I don't think we should know" Athena interrupted the questioning. "Too much information may not be wise. We would try and interfere."

The Gods nodded; Athena spoke the truth.

"We can easily send you back to your time." Zeus stated. The others agreed; the demigods were relieved

Sadly it was not going to be that simple. The Fates were angry that a goddess had meddled with time. They decided to reveal the future, the gods would realize what their mistakes cost them. Nothing hurt gods more than being outdone by a demigod. Worse off they would not be allowed to interfere. To understand that they caused their children to suffer would be painful for them.

There was only one demigod that could shame the gods it was; Percy Jackson.

Every eye in the throne room was drawn to a sparkling package

_Seeing as a foolish goddess has chosen to meddle with time. We shall reveal what your future has in store, great heroes will be revealed and regrets and mistakes will become obvious. Demigods of all kinds shall be revealed; this is their Saga told through the eyes of their young leader. You will see greatness and shortcomings. The punishment for meddling with time is the knowledge that you will not be able to prevent the future. The demigods are forbidden from revealing any facts. The punishment for interfering is regret. When we decide to send the demigods back to their own time perhaps you will remember and suffer, or we shall be merciful. It will depend on you. We shall be the judge. _

_The Fates'_

The Gods and Goddesses looked at each other. No one knew who sent the demigods. They all knew that they had no choice but to read the novels. Upsetting the Fates further was dangerous.

Warily Athena picked up the 5 books. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

The demigods knew that they were in for it now.

Poseidon knew that he had to own up to his child. "He is my son."

Poseidon waited for the punch, it never came. Hades and Zeus knew that it was too dangerous, the Fates had forbidden interference. Another time they thought, and both knew that they would try to kill him. Anyhow they had more important things to worry about. The Fates message made one thing clear; the prophecy was going to come true.


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone settled down, they needed to be calm and begin. Zeus took control. He cast enough chairs for all the demigods.

The title of the book was not available; perhaps it gave away too much; Athena thought.

"Who wants to read?" Zeus asked. He was very impatient, all he wanted was answers.

Annabeth tentatively raised her hand. Zeus nodded; passing her the books.

"Just a word before we begin, Percy thoughts have always been his own." Annabeth stated. "So no matter what he says remember that he has always been on your side."

The Gods were nervous now, what did the boy think of them.

Annabeth took a deep breath and began "**Chapter 1 I Accidently Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**

The demigods laughed; it was so Percy.

Zeus wondered how dangerous this demigod could be. He sounded rather childish.

Annabeth realized that the book was easily read; she assumed that the fates had insured that.

**Look I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Every demigod nodded their head in agreement.

Athena sighed; she wondered if all the children felt. "Do all demigods feel this way?"

No one made eye contact. It was answer enough.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"That always works" Thalia muttered under her breath.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"He has a point" Leo stated out loud. He had been on only one quest and he had realized the number of crazy ways there were to die.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because your think it's fiction, great. Read on. But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And it's only a matter of time before **_**they**_** sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"That is dramatic" Zeus muttered.

"But it is true" Thalia said with absolute certainty.

"I still want to know how you are not a tree." Zeus asked; annoyed that he had to wait.

"Percy is the reason." Thalia said cryptically.

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

Annabeth chuckled to herself.

"Yes" both Thalia and Nico said in unison.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"The boy agrees with you." Athena said "Unfortunately he sounds like his father."

Poseidon just stared at his rival. "Athena it has been eons. I did not say one word against your daughter."

Athena was shocked at Poseidon's level headedness.

Apollo on the other hand "You got owned."

Annabeth continued to read; at this rate they would never finish the book.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, **

Annabeth's heart broke a little more.

Aphrodite smiled; she immediately knew that a child of Athena was in love with the son of Poseidon. She was quite proud of herself. Quite the little drama that she had created. She could not wait until the romance was revealed.

**but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan-twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of arts to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

"That sounds like fun!" Athena stated; perhaps there was hope for the boy.

**I know- it sounds like torture. Most Yancy trips were.**

Athena sighed; what was wrong with this boy.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**

"Chiron" Piper stated; though a little unsure.

Annabeth nodded.

**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"He really thought that he wouldn't get into trouble?" Thalia laughed

Nico agreed; "Now that is stupid."

Poseidon was worried; how much trouble his son got into.

**Boy, was I wrong.**

"Gloomy foreshadowing" Hestia mused.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to a Saratoga Battlefield, and I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon.**

**I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

Hermes laughed "I like your son."

Poseidon couldn't help but chuckle.

Leo could not believe it, but it sounded like this kid had worse luck than him.

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and everyone took an unplanned swim.**

This time everyone laughed. Even Hades and Mr. D cracked a smile.

**And the time before that…Well you get the idea.**

"It only gets worse from here." Thalia said

Every demigod snickered; knowing Percy that was true.

**This trip I was determined to be good.**

"At least the boy is trying." Hestia murmured.

**All the way into the city, I had to put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend, Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

There was electricity in the air; Zeus despised the satyr for failing his daughter.

Annabeth frowned; she did not like it when people misjudged her friends.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated.**

"This is the satyr that was assigned to save my daughter!" Zeus said with anger.

"It was not his fault" Thalia said harshly.

Zeus looked at his daughter thoughtfully, she was definitely his daughter.

**He must've gotten held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin.**

Piper silently smiled to herself; this was the Lord of the Wild.

**On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note that excused him from gym for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run on enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Grover and enchiladas." Thalia laughed. Annabeth agreed; some things never change.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything to her because I was already on probation.**

"He is always on probation." Nico said. "What's he got to lose?"

**The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her." I mumbled**

"Finally some action."Ares said.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's ok. I like peanut butter."**

"The Satyr knows the power of yielding." Hestia said softly. She was beginning to see the potential Grover had.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"**That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back down into my seat.**

"Grover needs to let Percy be" Thalia said she wanted to kill the Nancy chick too.

"**You're already on probation," He reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wished I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there.**

Ares agreed; the boy needed to act more aggressively.

**In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to what I was about the mess I was about to get myself into.**

Poseidon sighed; he had a feeling these books would break his heart.

**Mr. Bruner led the museum tour.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"We are important" Hera stated; unaware of the angry stares she was getting form the demigods.

She definitely was the least favourite; and that was saying something.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele, **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carving on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting,**

"The boy _needs _to keep appreciate history." Artemis said; otherwise the demigod was doomed.

**but everyone around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"He is trying to pay attention" Athena said somewhat pleased. "Who is that Mrs. Dodds? She seems like an awful educator."

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old.**

**She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

"I'm surprised Percy hasn't done that" Nico said; earning a couple snickers.

Hades was surprised to see how accepted his son was.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

The Gods were getting suspicious.

"Monster?" Jason asked.

Annabeth nodded and made the finger motion for 1. Jason smiled; he wondered what Percy's first monster was. His was a rouge sea nymph. It took him a couple tries but at age 10 he was successful.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"You're definitely a spawn, just a sea spawn." Thalia corrected; her father laughed. Glad that his daughter knew the Son of Poseidon's place.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

**One time, after she'd make me erase answers out of old math work books until midnight,**

"I like him" Hermes said again. He liked trouble makers.

**I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

At the way that Thalia, Nico were shaking their heads Leo figured that Grover wasn't supposed to do that.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up**_**?"**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Maybe this will lead to a fight" Ares said hopefully, there plenty of weapons in a museum.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

"He was at least embarrassed; perhaps he is better than his father." Athena thought out loud.

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele.**

"**Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

"Haha ya right" Thalia laughed.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it.**

"Wow" Thalia was surprised.

Poseidon was proud.

"**That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

Hades frowned "It had to be that one."

Hera nodded; she actually agreed with her brother.

All those who had been trapped in Kronos stomach hated the memory, it was defiantly the worst part of their existence.

**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied "And he did this because…"**

"**Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

"GOD!"

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And…he didn't trust his kids, who were gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. **

"Because he looked like a rock" Poseidon snickered. This was his favourite joke.

The demigods couldn't help but laugh as well.

Zeus turned to the demigods and glared "do you think it is ok with disrespecting the King of the Gods?" He asked with lightning sparking behind him.

"It was not what you think, Lord Zeus; it's just that Lord Poseidon sounded like Percy." Nico said.

Everyone nodded; it was the truth. This made Zeus less happy. He knew that this meant that the Son of the sea god would be unpredictable. It was not safe.

Poseidon on that the other hand was pleased that he and his son were similar.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"**Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"The mortal has a point, it was disgusting." Demeter groaned "no cereal in sight."

"**-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Right he just summed up the greatest war in the earth's known history in a couple words" Artemis said; while she shook her head.

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to her friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"I am hating this mortal more and more." Apollo grumbled.

**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"**Busted," Grover muttered**

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face brighter than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"He should learn" Hephaestus said harshly. It was the truth, no need to sugar coat it.

"**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to bits with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses**

"Men" Artemis muttered.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew what was coming.**

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned towards Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go-intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"He is perceptive" Piper said; mildly impressed at his observation.

Annabeth wanted to a laugh; that was the first time anyone ever called Percy perceptive.

"**You must learn to answer my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"**About the Titans?"**

Yes the demigods thought. They did not want to say it out loud and tip off the Gods.

"**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

"**Oh."**

"**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"He does not disappoint" Thalia said; this shocked Zeus. It seemed his daughter did care for the son of Poseidon after all.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek or Roman person who ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.**

"Don't feel bad about those things." Annabeth said; seaweed brain had too many good qualities to ever focus on the negative.

Athena frowned; education should always be a point in which you focus strongly on and thusly judge your peers.

**No-he didn't expect me to be **_**as good; **_**he wanted me to be **_**better. **_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"I bet he was." Nico said.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd seen over the city. I figured it was global warming or something, because the weather all over New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"Zeus and Poseidon" Athena said with absolute certainty.

Both brothers looked at each other warily. If they indeed were fighting, it did not bode well for anyone; not their immortal family, not mortals, not the planet, and especially not demigods.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

"Hades..." Athena said; she remembered that he would send his furies out undercover, usually as a Mrs. Dodds.

Hades turned to face Athena. He nodded.

Athena sighed; Poseidon was not going to be happy.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from**_** that**_** school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it anywhere else.**

"**Detention?" Grover asked**

"**Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean-I'm not a genius."**

Annabeth wanted to tell Percy he had to many other great qualities, to worry about how he did in mortal school.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

The demigods burst out laughing, along with Hermes and Apollo.

**I didn't' have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

Hera nodded in approval "It is good that he wants to visit his mother."

Annabeth glared; it was Hera's fault that Sally had been worried sick for several months.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out of again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Your mom is the best." Nico said. "She wouldn't be upset." Thalia and Annabeth agreed.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich, when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends -I guess she got tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"If Percy doesn't go after her I am a satyr" Nico said with absolute certainty.

Ares smiled; perhaps there was hope for this kid.

"**Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." **

Annabeth chuckled; seaweed brain did not get angry that often but when he did he was unstoppable. Counting to ten wouldn't stop him. He would attack before he could count to 10.

**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

Poseidon smiled to himself; it was clear that his son was a master of his powers.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"**

"**-the water-"**

"**-like it grabbed her-"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Wow you don't need an oracle to figure that out." Apollo mocked.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt from the museum gift shop, ect., ect., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"**

"**I know," I grumbled. "A month of erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Of course it wasn't." Leo said "Never give teachers ideas."

Hermes nodded in agreement.

"**Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"**Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. **_**I **_**pushed her."**

"Awww, he is taking the blame! How sweet!" Aphrodite said; she would have to think of a good romance for this satyr. He was very sweet.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared him to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

"**I don't think so, Mr. Underwood" she said.**

"**But-"**

"**You-**_**will**_**-stay-here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"**It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

"He has no clue what he is in for." Thalia said; she could see it was a serious monster.

Hades was wondering how the demigod was alive. He was sure he hadn't died; seeing as there were five books. But if he had been hunted by one of his furies; he should be dead. His furies had taken down the daughter of Zeus. One fury should be able to handle a untrained demigod. Even if he was one of the big three.

"**Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me."**_**Now."**_

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

Thalia shuttered slightly. So did Annabeth and Nico.

"Really daughter, it cannot be that bad" Zeus huffed.

"Have you ever been on the receiving end of that stare?!" Thalia challenged. She remembered the time she had hit Percy with the lightning and man was he terrifying. If the oracle hadn't come down she wasn't sure what would have happened.

Jason was shocked too; nothing scared his sister.

Nico though agreed as well. "You never want Percy to look at you like that, he will kick your butt to Hades and back."

Hades and Zeus looked at each other, wondering if the Son of Poseidon was really more powerful than their own children. Poseidon would never let them forget it.

"Does he use the stare often?" Ares asked; perhaps he would see some action after all.

Thalia and Nico laughed; Ares would see it all on his own soon enough.

"You will see." Thalia said.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was already at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently for me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"I hate when that happens" Leo moaned; everything got so confusing.

Piper laughed. If Percy was like Leo, she was sure she would like the guy.

**I wasn't so sure.**

"Good Instincts." Poseidon said thoughtfully.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"He should not have done that" Hades stated; so much for being powerful. He wouldn't survive long enough to prove he was powerful. His fury will kill him.

**Half way up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes back and forth between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

Poseidon was going to have a chat with Chiron about this later. No book was as important as his son's safety.

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught back up with her, we were back in the Greek and Rome section.**

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

Aphrodite was considering locking the daughter of Athena with Percy in a museum. Annabeth seemed to like museums, and Percy would enjoy the quality time.

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

"**You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"Wow that's a first" Nico laughed; he attacked the Lord of the Underworld, but was being polite to a fury. He found that so funny.

"When Percy should attack he holds his tongue, when he should be respectful he attacks. That boy has one strange mind." Thalia moaned.

Jason frowned; it sounded like he and Percy would not see eye to eye on things. He was all about respect. It was the Roman in him.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you could get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

Hades chuckled; his furies would be pleased with that description.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll-I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

Poseidon was glaring at Zeus ready to attack. If any harm came to his son, someone was going to feel his wrath. All the other Gods were on high alert. If the trident and the lightning bolt came out, things were going to get ugly fast.

"**We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of is that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. **

"Idea for camp half-blood" Leo blurted out, unaware of the tension in the room.

Annabeth speed up, before Leo was blasted out of sheer frustration. She unlike Leo could sense the makings of a fight. She felt bad for Lord Hades; Poseidon was not going to be happy.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse they were going to make me read the book.**

Athena grumbled; demigods never appreciated literature.

"**Well?" She demanded**

"**Ma'am, I don't…"**

"**Your time is up," She hissed**

Poseidon had his trident in his hand. He was ready. Zeus held onto his master bolt. While Hades had his hand on his helm, he had to be ready to disappear.

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbeque coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"A FURY YOU SENT A FURY AFTER MY SON! HIS FIRST MONSTER WAS A FURY!" Poseidon yelled.

Hades immediately grabbed his helm. He was no longer visible.

"LORD POSEIDON IT'S OK!" Annabeth yelled.

"Listen to her, he must survive there is much more of the book to go." Athena reasoned.

Poseidon sat back down. "Fine come on out brother."

Hades appeared right behind Poseidon.

"Nice on" Poseidon admitted; Hades never ran from a fight.

"Do you think they will keep trying to kill each other?" Nico whispered to Thalia.

She nodded gravely. "The two of us have to be careful; if things get ugly they will go for us first."

Nico nodded; "first sign of major trouble, I can shadow travel us out."

Thalia nodded; "Jason too."

Nico nodded; but he didn't say that he had never travelled with two people.

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"**What ho, Percy!" He shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

The worry was clear on Poseidon's face.

Jason wondered how Percy survived; no way his first monster could have been a fury. Right? It would make him seem like an amateur.

Athena and Hades thought that Chiron must have saved Percy.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my had, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword-Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

Leo wanted to shout that is so cool. But even he wasn't that stupid.

Hephaestus thought it was a very nice sword.

**Mrs. Dodds spun towards me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"At least he didn't" Aphrodite thought out loud; she thought that the boy had the makings of a decent hero. At least a great love story.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

Poseidon was glaring at Hades. Nico, Thalia and Annabeth saw Percy's deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Wow was all they thought.

"WOW" Nico blurted out accidently.

"What boy?!" Poseidon yelled; focusing on the Son of Hades. He would suffer if Percy died.

Nico felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "Lord Poseidon it's scary how much you look like Percy when he is mad. That's all."

Thalia and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

Everyone else was shocked; the boy was a dangerous one.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

Jason huffed; of course it came naturally to him. It seemed like he was a perfect demigod.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hiss!**_

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"OH MY GODS!" Piper exclaimed; he beat a fury on his first try.

Jason felt red hot jealousy sear through his body.

"No way" Hades exclaimed; he beat a fury.

"THAT'S MY BOY!" Poseidon shouted with pride.

Zeus was on high alert. If the boy was that skilled that early, who knows how powerful he was now, powerful in his mind was that same as dangerous.

Leo was shocked; he couldn't imagine facing a monster like that alone, without knowing anything about well anything.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ball point pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

Apollo who was impressed by the kid, began to laugh.

Athena on the other hand frowned; he might have missed the obvious but it was a decent conclusion. Mortals taught children that the gods no longer existed; thusly neither did monsters. Other than hallucinations only drug abuse made any logical sense. She wondered if the boy was a complete wash or if he was indeed intelligent. The child of the prophecy needed to be intelligent.

**Had I imagined the whole the thing?**

"No!" The demigods besides Annabeth yelled.

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

All eyes went back to Zeus.

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Poseidon asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

That brought a smile on Poseidon's face.

"**Our **_**teacher**_**. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and walked away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

It would have been better if it was all a joke Annabeth thought. At least than Percy would be safe.

"The satyr is not a very good liar, always make eye contact" Hermes mumbled; lying should be considered an art form.

"**Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Dramatic much" Poseidon hissed under his breath.

Zeus cracked even more lightning, just proving Poseidon's point.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

"Damn he gives it back" Leo moaned; it was seriously cool pen. It was even better than Jason's coin.

"**Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there's never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling alright?"**

"At least Chiron can lie" Hermes said; the gods all looked at him funny. "Always look on the bright side."

"It's the end of the chapter" Annabeth stated.

"It was an exciting start for sure" Demeter commented; No one not even Ares disagreed, they were all curious for more.


	3. Chapter 3

Annabeth began to cough slightly.

"Alright then, it seems that we need someone else to read." Apollo said "I am the god of medicine so listen. Her voice is sore."

Piper volunteered.

"No charm speaking young lady" Mr. D said harshly; Piper nodded nervously.

**Three Old Ladies Knit the Sock of Death**

"Does he mean what I think he means?" Poseidon asked; if it was true then the fates were even crueler than he thought possible.

Annabeth didn't know; Percy had never really talked about meeting the fates.

Poseidon sighed and motioned Piper to keep reading.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, **

"No duh" Thalia muttered.

**but usually they were over quickly. This twenty- four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. **

**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip-had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Never underestimate the power of the mist," Athena said wisely.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

**It got so I almost believed them-Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

"Let me guess, it was Grover who couldn't fool Percy." Thalia stated.

**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"He is a terrible liar, but a great friend. He probably felt too guilty to lie." Thalia said.

Zeus grumbled upset that his daughter kept defending that good for nothing Satyr.

**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

All the demigods understood that; dreams were the worst.

Their parents did notice the look of discomfort. They could not help but feel a twinge of guilt.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. **

**One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. **

Poseidon glared at his brother; Zeus would not meet his eye.

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. **

"Really?!" Poseidon exclaimed.

Zeus shrugged; "I doubt you were kind to Thalia."

Thalia sighed; and responded before Lord Poseidon could. "Actually it was Lord Hades who hunted me."

Hades didn't look ashamed; he was always the bad guy, he was used to it by now.

Poseidon on the other hand, was even angrier at Zeus. He was kind to their children, never going out of his way to hunt them, but his brothers were still horrible to his son.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Seems as if you are also going crazy" Zeus huffed.

"But I am not attacking your children." Poseidon pointed out.

"My daughter was a tree!"

"I could have easily destroyed it, and I would like to point out you have a son sitting right there." Poseidon said whilst pointing at Jason.

"Right you didn't know about him. And it seems as if your son did something to offend me. You know the dangers. FYI my son is Roman!" Zeus rumbled.

"Both of you enough, stop acting like children." Demeter huffed. Hades smiled slightly; he enjoyed watching his brothers get insulted.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

Annabeth sighed; she missed her seaweed brain. This book was like a knife to her heart. It reminded her of all the annoying things she loved about Percy.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. **

"Does he punch the teacher?" Ares asked in anticipation.

**I called him an old sot. **

Everyone burst out laughing.

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good. **

"It did sound good." Hermes chuckled.

Athena on the other hand couldn't help but define the word. " Sot is an offensive term for one who drinks habitually, a drunkard. It comes from Old English, from Medieval Latin _sottus;_ compare French _sot_ a fool."

Athena would have kept going, but Piper used her charm speak to draw everyone's attention back to her.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"He should be used to it by now." Thalia pointed out.

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

"See" Thalia said "He is fine with it."

"He shouldn't be." Athena said.

"You get used to it as demigods." Leo pointed out. When he wasn't homeless he was getting expelled. He was nowhere near Percy standards but it happened.

**I was homesick.**

"He is always homesick." Nico mumbled.

Poseidon smiled; this meant he had a good home life.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, **

"That's sweet." Hera said; even though she wasn't a fan of demigods', a son who loved his mother was alright with her.

Annabeth wanted to take her dagger and stab Hera in both eyes. She tried her hardest to control her anger. She knew it would not be wise to attack.

**even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"Paul doesn't play poker. Right?" Thalia asked; she was confused.

Annabeth sighed; "Percy never wanted anyone to know."

"What are you talking about?" Thalia asked; Piper had stopped reading, all eyes both immortal and demigods were on Annabeth.

"He doesn't tell anyone, he didn't even tell me and Grover, we found out." Annabeth said; "Percy and his first step-dad are a sore spot." Annabeth felt so dirty she felt like they were invading Percy's privacy. And Percy didn't have a lot of privacy.

"Daughter of Aphrodite keep reading." Poseidon asked; the nerves were clear in his voice.

**And yet... There were things I'd miss at Yancy.**

"Why isn't he thinking about his step-father?" Poseidon moaned; he wanted answers.

"He doesn't like to think about him." Annabeth said sadly. She didn't blame him.

**The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. **

**I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"Only Percy, he is worried about protecting his protector." Thalia laughed.

Nico nodded. Jason frowned; he was upset but he had no right to be. Everything so far had painted Percy as a good guy. It made sense why he was loved, but he also knew he had a lot to measure up too.

**I'd miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

"You exceed everyone's expectations. Even Chiron's high standards" Annabeth whispered. Everyone heard her though.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. **

"At least the boy is making progress." Athena sighed; one is better than nothing.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Good" Was the general consensus.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. **

Athena shuddered. Poseidon couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, Athena was so predictable.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one- eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, **

"He figured it out." Nico laughed; Charon hadn't forgotten Percy. Charon had admitted to liking him. Which in Nico's mind was a miracle.

"Well of course he did, Chiron is his teacher." Jason stated; he was slightly confused. Nico just chuckled.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

Jason finally found something he was better at. Sadly it was just Latin, something he was good at because he was Roman and he had learned it the language since he was 3 years old.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"Weird" Apollo mumbled. The kid had a strange personality.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **

Piper was amazed at the things that Percy could figure out. She had gotten the distinct impression that he was supposed to be an idiot, and yet he noticed things that everyone else seemed to miss. She didn't think people gave him enough credit.

**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**

"You get it." Annabeth said; the sadness was clear in her voice.

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

"They're not myths, it's history!" Zeus exclaimed.

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"That is a kind thing to do." Hestia mused.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... Worried about Percy, sir. "**

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"He has a point" Leo mentioned.

No one disagreed with him.

**I inched closer.**

"Perhaps your son has the makings of a future thief." Hermes said with interest.

Annabeth wanted to laugh at the irony. She had a sinking suspicion that this book had something to do with the Lightning Thief.

**"... Alone this summer, " Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"**

"He should have taken him to camp right away" Poseidon stated; why keep him in the mortal world; it was unnecessary danger.

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him, " Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more. "**

"So never" Thalia joked.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line-"**

Athena was confused; demigods didn't have to adhere to a certain deadline to make it to camp half blood. They were allowed to show up whenever they pleased. Something was definitely special about this particular demigod. More so than just being a child of the big three.

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can. "**

"I don't think he is enjoying it though. Hallucinations aren't exactly fun." Artemis pointed out.

"It depends on what you are hallucinating, sister" Apollo corrected.

**"Sir, he saw her... . "**

"Don't forget he killed her." Nico chipped in.

**"His imagination, " Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that. "**

"If the satyr knew how to lie maybe." Hermes added.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again. " Grover's voice was choked with emotion. **

"Even the satyr knows he is a failure." Zeus pointed out to Thalia.

"Grover is also part of the reason I am not a tree." Thalia countered.

"You wouldn't have been a tree if it wasn't for that satyr." Zeus replied.

"Argggg, I made my choice dad. No one can ever change my mind." Thalia blurted out in frustration.

Zeus sighed; he did not see what his daughter saw in the useless satyr.

**"You know what that would mean. "**

**"You haven't failed, Grover, " Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"**

"It's not that easy" Annabeth pointed out. She got looks. "To keep Percy alive I mean."

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"There goes his future as a thief." Hermes moaned.

Poseidon nodded.

"You should be very disappointed in your boy. Perhaps you should insist on lessons." Hermes said.

Poseidon just chuckled "I will keep that in mind."

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"Chiron should be more careful. It could have been a mortal who could see through the mist or perhaps Percy; the resident demigod." Artemis pointed out.

Athena was in total agreement.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**

"He is asking to be discovered." Athena moaned.

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing, " he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice. "**

The Gods looked at each other, wondering what happened on the winter solstice. Chiron was one tough centaur; something that meddled with his nerves did not bode well.

**"Mine neither, " Grover said. "But I could have sworn ... "**

**"Go back to the dorm, " Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow. "**

"That would suck, having to repeat school over and over again." Leo said; he thought it was a nightmare.

**"Don't remind me. "**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey, " he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful. " He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... Tired. "**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"That's not going to work; satyrs can read your emotions." Athena pointed out.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"That never works." Thalia said; she remembered all the times she wanted to believe she imagined scenarios

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"You're always in danger." Nico said.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy, " he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... It's for the best."**

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me.**

Chiron sucks at pep talks everyone thought.

**Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. **

"Stupid, idiotic girl." Annabeth hissed.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir. "**

**"I mean ... " Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time. "**

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"Chiron really sucks at this pep-talk thing." Annabeth moaned.

**"Right, " I said, trembling.**

**"No, no, " Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... You're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"**

**"Thanks, " I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**

"Grover needs lying lessons and Chiron needs compassion lessons." Annabeth said.

**"Percy-"**

**But I was already gone.**

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"Family of nobodies huh?" Poseidon said.

The other Gods were offended; they were anything but nobodies.

"Your uncle is the King of the Gods boy."

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

Jason sighed; maybe Percy's life was not perfect. Perhaps he shouldn't be so jealous.

**"Oh, " one of the guys said. "That's cool. "**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"Coincidence much" Annabeth muttered.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"That it is going to scare the hooves off him." Thalia said.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**

**"Oh ... Not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ... "**

"He still trying to lie his way out" Apollo said with humour in his voice "that is dedication."

**"Grover-"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ... "**

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar. "**

"At least now Percy will understand that he must get to camp." Poseidon said; once his son was there he was safe.

**His ears turned pink.**

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009 **_

Zeus looked at Mr. D "You do realize they are all demigods' right. That means they are dyslexic."

Mr. D nodded "it's funny watching them struggle."

"If you keep being so immature I will add another 50 years to your time at Camp Half-blood.

"What's he talking about?" Jason asked; why would a God be at camp. The Romans hadn't been visited by a God in years.

"It will be explained." Annabeth answered.

**"What's Half-"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... Summer address. "**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"**You have nothing to be jealous about" Annabeth stated.**

**"Okay, " I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion. "**

**He nodded. "Or ... Or if you need me. "**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Well that was rude." Hera stated just when the demigod was growing on him

Jason was surprised to; he thought Percy was a nice guy. Maybe not, the worst part was he was hoping Percy was not a good guy; what did that make him?

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you. "**

"I doubt Percy would believe him" Thalia said; "he is not used to being the one who needs protection."

Poseidon realized whatever happened in the book his son was a good man. It seemed as if he was a good enough man that a daughter of Zeus, a daughter of Athena and a Son of Hades all called him friends. Now normally they would hate him on principle.

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**

"He is a good guy." Jason said with resignation.

Zeus on the other hand huffed; this satyr didn't seem to protect anyone.

**"Grover, " I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

"I have bad feeling about this" Poseidon moaned.

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. **

**Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"No, it can't be, not them." Poseidon exclaimed.

Even though both Hades and Zeus probably would kill Percy, they felt sorry for their brother. No matter what they were brothers.

Jason, Piper and Leo were shocked; how had Percy survived; they all knew it was the fates. They had all been warned.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"There defiantly the fates." Athena stated; she too felt bad for Poseidon. No one should watch one of their children die so young.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

Poseidon looked even paler.

Jason, Leo and Piper wondered if their parents would care if it was them.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man-"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all. "**

"The joke is funny, just horrible mistimed" Hermes said.

"That's Percy; he makes jokes at the worse time." Nico said.

This did not make Poseidon feel better.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath**

"O Gods" Poseidon said.

**"We're getting on the bus, " he told me. "Come on. "**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there. "**

"It won't help" Athena said sadly.

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back. Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. **

**The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. **

NOOOOOOOO Poseidon thought. Everyone had a distinct feeling that somewhere a water disaster was happening. The look on Poseidon's face was so sad. The demigods who knew what the string meant wished they could tell him, but if the fates forbid it than they couldn't.

Annabeth just motioned Piper to keep reading.

Piper wondered how her friend was so calm, Percy was her boyfriend.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for-Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"Sadly no" Athena said.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

Annabeth just wanted to shout Percy will be fine. Poseidon looked like he was getting ready for Percy's funeral.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. **

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"He should tell him now!" Poseidon roared.

Thalia sighed; if Grover didn't get some good press soon, he would be hated by both Zeus and Poseidon. In other words he was doomed.

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

"Much worse" Hades said harshly.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw. "**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn. "**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost-older.**

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord. "**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

"The biggest deal!" Hermes exclaimed; unaware it was his son's string that was cut.

**"This is not happening, " Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time. "**

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth. "**

Grover needed to get over it, Thalia thought.

**"Grover, " I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me. "**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover-that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"Wow the boy is quite perceptive" Athena complemented.

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"That's the end of the chapter" Piper stated.

Poseidon sighed "Read the next chapter now!"

It was clear patience wasn't a strong suit of his.

* * *

Author's Note:

Thank You for all the support, I will try and update pretty consistently

If you spot any mistakes or grammar errors, feel free to leave it in a review


	4. Chapter 4

"Does someone else want to read?" Piper asked.

Leo nodded and took the book.

**Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants.**

"Leo this isn't a time for jokes" Piper said harshly.

"I am not kidding that's what it says!" Leo shouted and showed everyone the book.

No one knew what to say. After the meeting with the fates everyone assumed it would be very serious.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal. **

"Not smart" Annabeth moaned; even though she knew it would happen.

**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"I don't blame him" Nico stated; no one did. Grover was seriously being creepy.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First, " I told the driver.**

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"She is one amazing mortal" Poseidon said.

Aphrodite smiled; Poseidon actually loved her. It wasn't just a meaningless affair he had out of boredom. No wonder he broke the Oath.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. **

"Percy is definitely right about that" Thalia agreed; somehow no matter how much good Percy did, luck was just not on his side.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, **

Poseidon glared at his brother.

"I didn't even know her!" Zeus exclaimed.

**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

Everyone felt awful for the woman. Life can be so cruel at times.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Poseidon smiled; she truly deserved the best. He wished she would have allowed him to build her a castle.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. **

"You visited him!" Zeus said angrily.

Poseidon just shrugged "I wanted to see my son, so I did. Don't worry I have kept my distance. Even if I don't want too."

Every demigod couldn't help but feel a little jealousy. Poseidon obviously cared for his son.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

They never do the demigods thought.

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"Clever, not a lie but not the truth" Athena said; Sally only flaw was men, but other than that she seemed like an excellent mortal. Perhaps she would bless her.

Aphrodite was thinking the same thing. Sally deserved happiness.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"She wouldn't at change a thing." Annabeth stated.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk.**

Annabeth felt sick. She couldn't imagine someone reading her own thoughts. Percy deserved his privacy.

Everyone got uncomfortable. Poseidon looked to be on edge.

**When I was young, I nick-named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"That is disgusting." Piper exclaimed.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... Well, when I came home is a good example.**

Annabeth sighed; Percy never talked about his stepfather so whatever happened it was bad.

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"What a pig." Aphrodite exclaimed; she would definitely find someone better for this mortal.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home. "**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"No welcome, or glad you're home" Annabeth said angrily. Thalia and Nico were also angry. All three were scary.

**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**

"That disgusting and stupid excuse for a mortal!" Annabeth said with anger.

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. **

Mr. D frowned; this kind of mortal gave drinkers a bad name.

**Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret. " Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"WHAT!" Annabeth screamed; she was going to get him and rip his head off.

Thalia was full on warrior mode; Piper, Leo and Jason had never seen her look this angry.

Nico was the most terrifying of the three. Meaning he was worse than usual. All of them radiated power. They just needed a target.

"When I get my hands on that mortal I will destroy him, he will feel my wrath" Poseidon said with such hatred.

Leo didn't know what to do.

"Demigod keep reading. We are not to interfere brother, but say by accident we find that mortal after the books finish..." Zeus trailed off.

He may not like the demigod, but he was his nephew. Only he was allowed to try and kill him. No mortal was ever allowed to lay a hand on a demigod.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

"Why hasn't Percy killed him?!" Thalia yelled in frustration.

No one had an answer.

**He raised a greasy eyebrow. Gabe could sniff out money like a, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

Athena figured out why Sally stayed; she had strength.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe, " he said. "The kid just got here. "**

"Finally a decent mortal." Poseidon said with relief.

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"They are all dead!" Poseidon yelled; no one messed with this son. He was a God he would protect his son; damn the ancient rules.

**"Fine, " I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose. " **

"Count on it" Mr. D promised.

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study. " He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

Every single being in the room silently agreed to kill the mortal.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

Poseidon felt unbearable guilt. He had caused Sally and Percy this pain. It may have taken him longer than Athena, but he knew why Gabe was in both their lives.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone- something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

"Guy never catches a break." Hermes pointed out.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. **

Now that is how a boy is supposed to feel about his mother, Hera thought.

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"She sounds perfect." Piper said.

Poseidon agreed as well. Sally was a Queen among women.

**"Oh, Percy. " She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

Jason smiled sadly; he wondered what it would be like to have a mother like that.

Leo just missed his mom, he felt the same way about her, as Percy did.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right? **

"Aww, how cute." Aphrodite cooed.

Ares huffed; "mommy's boy."

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"All boys are like that" Hera huffed.

Hephaestus and Ares silently laughed; their mother was horrible to them, they were never secretly glad.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"**

**I gritted my teeth.**

"Punch him!" Annabeth yelled.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

Poseidon groaned; he failed her.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad. **

"Life only gets harder." Annabeth said softly.

**Until that trip to the museum ...**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom. "**

"He shouldn't lie to his mother" Hera stated.

"She would understand" Poseidon said.

Athena looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Clear sighted." Poseidon stated.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

Leo saw his point.

**"I have a surprise for you, " she said. "We're going to the beach. "**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

"His favourite place on earth." Annabeth said wistfully.

**"Three nights-same cabin. "**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed. "**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"That mortal will regret his actions for the rest of his life" Poseidon growled.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him, **

"Finally" Thalia said with relief "Percy can crush this guy."

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

"Damn" Thalia muttered; she would just have to track down the pig herself.

**"I was on my way, honey, " she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it, " I muttered. "He won't let us go. "**

Nico began to fiddle with his ring. Even in Olympus you could feel the chill in the air. When Gabe made it to the underworld he would teach him a lesson.

**"Of course he will, " my mom said evenly. "Your step-father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides, " she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works. "**

"Bribery, an excellent plan." Hermes said with approval in his voice.

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... It comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

Aphrodite shuttered; this mortal would pay.

**"Yes, honey, " my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back. "**

**"We'll be very careful. "**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game. " **

Annabeth clenched her fist so tightly she almost drew blood. Why hadn't Percy ever talked about him? All he had mentioned he was a horrible man. If she had known...Gods she was frustrated. It made it so much worse that she couldn't talk to him.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"DO IT." Everyone shouted.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"I guess we finally found the person that can make Percy stop." Thalia said; everyone looked at her. "You know when Percy is angry, nothing slows him down. No reason, logic or person. But he listens to his mother."

Everyone understood.

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought? **

It will probably break his heart when he finds out. Annabeth thought she already knew the answer.

**"I'm sorry, " I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now. "**

Hermes and Apollo nodded in approval of that apology.

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"Right like he had enough brain cells" Artemis hissed.

**"Yeah, whatever, " he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy, " my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... Whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

She is one smart mortal Athena thought.

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. **

"Foreshadowing again." Hestia murmured; she was worried for this young demigod.

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

**An hour later we were ready to leave. Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy, " he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch. "**

"Like he would be the one driving. Moron" Poseidon hissed; he would have said worse but there were children in the room.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. **

Wow was all everyone thought.

**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"Hopefully soon Percy will learn he is a demigod and then destroy the mortal." Thalia stated.

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. **

"This sounds good" Ares said; he was getting bored.

**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe.**

"No way it would work" Jason said; that was so difficult.

"We can hope little brother." Thalia said; Percy was about to surprise people again.

**The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair-case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. **

Jason was not the only one impressed; this demigod was a powerful one for sure.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, **

Annabeth and Athena shuddered.

**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"It won't be a problem for long." Poseidon said; soon he would discover his abilities.

**I loved the place.**

"He is strange" Hermes said.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

Aphrodite was liking this boy. He had a great eye for love.

Poseidon smiled to himself. It was a beautiful spot.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Yah it is pretty strange." Jason pointed out.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. **

"Moron, there are plenty of blue foods." Athena stated.

**They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"Percy rebellious streak is a lot longer though." Nico said.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

The Gods had a feeling her dreams would come true.

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. **

Poseidon sighed; he wished his son did not have to wonder. He wished he could have been there for him.

**Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

Annabeth understood the best; she was the only demigod who could ask. Thalia and Jason had no relationship with their mortal parent. Leo's mother died. Piper's dad never knew who Aphrodite was. Nico's mother died.

**"He was kind, Percy, " she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes. "**

Jason Piper and Leo looked at Poseidon. He had kind eyes Piper thought. Leo that that Poseidon was cool; so Percy must be cool. All Jason could see was power.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud. "**

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"I am proud." Poseidon murmured.

All the Gods with demigod children understood how he was feeling. They were always proud of their children, they just couldn't show it.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... When he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin. "**

**"But... He knew me as a baby. "**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born. "**

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... Something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"I'm surprised he remembered." Poseidon thought out loud.

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me ...**

Annabeth looked down she knew what was coming next. Percy was very predictable.

**I felt angry at my father. **

Poseidon looked away. He could not meet anyone's eye. He should be used his children resenting him. But sadly it still hurt sometimes.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

All the demigods knew that they had all felt the pit of resentment in their stomachs. Being related to the Gods ruined your life, it never really helped it.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey. " Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something. "**

**"Because you don't want me around?" I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"He should watch his words" Hera grumbled; no child should be rude to his mother.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away. "**

"No one seems to explain anything to him" Jason said; at least they had that in-common.

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal, " I said.**

"Join the club." Piper mumbled.

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. **

Neither does Sally Annabeth thought. He was even more important than a regular demigod.

**I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe. "**

"Percy and safe don't belong in the same sentence." Nico said.

**"Safe from what?"**

"Your crazy uncles." Poseidon stated; glaring at his two brothers.

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

"I wonder how much stranger the kid could get." Apollo wondered.

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"A Cyclops." Athena said; Poseidon must have kept track of his son from time to time.

**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

"Like Hercules" Jason said incredulously. Of course Hercules.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

Nico wanted to laugh; Percy really had the worst luck.

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"He should have told her." Annabeth moaned; his heart always got him in trouble.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could, " my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it. "**

Jason wondered what it felt like to have a parent that cared about you.

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school, " she said softly. "A summer camp."**

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born- talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

"Decent questions." Annabeth said; she would have been so confused.

**"I'm sorry, Percy, " she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good. "**

"Percy would never stay away forever." Annabeth stated with such certainty, Poseidon had to smile. At least they his son had great relationship with his mother.

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ... "**

Jason wondered how Percy was able to leave; he was a child of a big three.

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

Annabeth sighed; she would never have been able to stop asking questions. Then again her relationship with her father was different.

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"Percy has the worst dreams ever." Nico said; and remember Nico only dreams about dead people.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. **

"Zeus and Poseidon." Athena had to point out.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

"And there's Hades." Athena mentioned; unaware she was completely wrong.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. **

Jason couldn't believe even in dreams Percy was a hero. Always doing the right thing.

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

Zeus smiled smugly; he won.

"Don't get too cocky. I think my son was just afraid of that possibility." Poseidon said with confidence.

"Right? prove it." Zeus challenged.

Poseidon just shrugged and went for his trident.

Before a fight could break out Hestia stood up. "NO fighting, please."

Both brothers couldn't say no.

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

"We are really angry." Zeus mussed; he wondered what got him so mad.

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane. "**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have for-gotten. **

"Yah Uncle you should remember these things." Apollo mocked.

"I am the ocean." Poseidon responded.

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door. My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... He wasn't exactly Grover.**

"The big reveal" Hermes said dramatically.

**"Searching all night, " he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"You were a creep" Nico said; it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

**My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy, " she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

"It is really weird the first time" Piper agreed.

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be ... Where his legs should be ...**

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"Which one of them?" Poseidon asked pointing at his brothers. He knew that there was an attack that was about to happen.

Annabeth gulped but didn't answer.

Leo picked up the pace.

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

**Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

Leo stopped reading; "that's the end of the chapter."

"They all seem to end on cliff hangers." Poseidon moaned; he didn't like it.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**I hope u guys are enjoying the story so far, if there are any mistakes like spelling or grammar feel free to point them out. Other than that I hope the chapter is good**


	5. Chapter 5

Leo had realized the pattern, finish one chapter then the next person reads. He passed the book to Nico.

Nico looked surprised that Leo passed it to him, but he did begin to read.

**My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting**

"Bullfighting?" Athena mused. The boy had strange thoughts. She wondered if it could be...no he would be dead... Gods this was one powerful demigod.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind-shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

"I have a feeling it won't be fast enough" Demeter said sadly.

Everyone agreed with Demeter.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning,**

Some water hit Zeus in the face unintentionally. Zeus decided to give his brother a break this once. He was trying to kill his son after all.

**I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"Grover doesn't smell bad" Piper said out loud.

"He discovered cologne." Annabeth said.

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... Know each other?"**

"I would have asked about being part goat myself." Leo laughed, he was trying to cut the tension in the room.

Apollo chuckled slightly in response, but everyone else remained somber.

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rear view mirror, though there were no cars behind us.**

**"Not exactly, " he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you. "**

"Stalker" Hermes muttered.

The demigods and Apollo chuckled. Grover did sound like a stalker.

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend, " he added hastily. "I am your friend. "**

"He and Percy are best-friends." Thalia said matter-o-factly. They were all family.

**"Urn ... What are you, exactly?"**

"Finally the right question." Leo said.

**"That doesn't matter right now. "**

Everyone shook his head; they were pretty sure it mattered a lot. Especially to Percy.

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"**

"O Grover isn't going to like that." Thalia laughed.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

"It hurts the ears." Mr. D moaned. He hated the noise, and it seemed like every Satyr made the same annoying noise.

**"Goat!" he cried. "What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down. "**

**"You just said it didn't matter. "**

"O Percy just beat Grover with logic" Thalia said in a fake shocked voice.

Athena on the other hand was pleased, perhaps with the proper education, the boy could be a decent hero. She had high hopes for the child of the prophecy, even if it was either her father or uncles child.

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"**

"It was an honest mistake." Annabeth huffed. She was pretty sure Percy had enough on his mind.

Athena watched her daughter defend the Son of Poseidon time and time again, she knew that she would have to talk to her daughter about her relationship with the boy.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

"Myths" Zeus huffed. He hated the foolish mortals.

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

"I think Grover is purposely trying to confuse Percy." Leo stated. The guy kept changing his story, who could keep up?

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

"Little slow on the uptake" Jason joked.

He could see the tension on peoples faces, he thought perhaps a joke would lighten the mood. It seemed like what Percy would do in the situation. Sadly it did not work.

Thalia on the other hand saw that Jason was acting weirdly. Jason didn't joke much. Which was just fine with her.

**"Of course. "**

**"Then why-"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract, " Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious.**

"No one is giving him a straight answer" Leo pointed out again. It was because he hated the feeling.

Hephaestus watched his son, something about his anger at straight answers was weird. But then again he wasn't a machine, maybe he was wrong.

**"We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are. "**

**"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"He means you are a demigod" Annabeth said bitterly "Congratulations."

The Gods saw that the demigods were focused solely on the negatives of being a demigod, and granted there were many negatives, but there were positives. Perhaps this was one of the things the fates wanted to show them, their children were angry at being demigods.

Athena, Hephaestus, Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, and Hades, knew that they had to talk to their children, or risk them hating who they were for the rest of their lives.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy, " my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety. "**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

"Two very angry Gods" Thalia said dramatically. "Get used to it."

Poseidon wondered how often his family chose to attack Percy.

Ares wondered if the demigod would cause enough tension to start a war. He was hoping some action would occur, he hadn't been part of a good war in too long.

**"Oh,nobody much, " Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment.**

Thalia laughed; he should let it go, Percy made an honest mistake. She had thought he was a donkey too.

Piper agreed with Thalia, she had thought Grover was a donkey.

"Let's face it we all thought he was a donkey at one point." Leo said. Everyone laughed at Leo.

Annabeth looked at Leo and realized he reminded her a lot of Percy.

**"Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions. "**

Poseidon was seething. He wished he could just attack and beat the Hades out of his brother Hades.

"Grover should be less forthcoming." Annabeth said.

"Yah that was a bit harsh. Was Grover trying to scare Percy to death?" Piper added.

"The boy should toughen up" Ares complained. "He should be glad that someone is attacking him, how else are you supposed to prove your worth."

Poseidon looked Ares in the eye "my son is twelve, he has yet to be trained or even truly understand who is, yet you think he should fight Lord Hades minions?"

Ares didn't know what to say, Poseidon was usually so lad back, it was easy to forget that his moods changed so fast. "No." Ares knew better than to challenge the Lord of the Sea when he was on edge.

Poseidon nodded at that response. No one was going to question his son's worth, not when he could help it.

**"Grover!"**

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

"I wouldn't count on that. Percy has the strangest dreams." Annabeth informed the crowd.

Apollo didn't doubt that one bit, after hearing the boys thoughts he suspected that Percy Jackson was a master of stange. Which was one of the reasons he liked this demigod.

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

Strawberries were every demigods favourite. It was a reminder of the best place on earth.

Demeter smiled when she saw the look on the demigods faces, they liked strawberries.

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

"Camp Half-blood." Annabeth said, she couldn't help but answer the question.

**"The summer camp I told you about. " My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you. "**

**"The place you didn't want me to go. "**

**"Please, dear, " my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger. "**

Leo felt so bad for the kid. He knew what it felt like to be confused about everything.

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn. "**

"Yes" Athena answered. "But don't call them old ladies, they won't take kindly to that."

**"Those weren't old ladies, " Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... When someone's about to die. "**

"Way to go Grover" Annabeth muttered, he just told Percy he was about to die.

Jason felt sorry for Percy he seemed to have the worst luck ever.

**"Whoa. You said 'you. '"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone. '"**

**"You meant 'you. ' As in me. "**

**"I meant you, like 'someone. ' Not you, you. "**

"They can go on like this forever" Annabeth moaned.

Piper thought that sounded like Leo and Jason.

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

"Percy shouldn't want to be right anyways. It would mean he is a deadman." Hermes said.

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

Artemis liked Percy eyesight, he noticed everything. This was a good skill for a demigod to have.

**"What was that?" I asked.**

A monster. That wants to kill you everyone thought.

**"We're almost there, " my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please. "**

"I doubt that will help" Poseidon moaned. He knew that no one on Olympus would grant that prayer.

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

"We are all drawn to Camp Half-blood. It's natural." Annabeth said.

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island.**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"No duh!" The demigods shouted.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... And the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**

Poseidon clutched his seat. He was so worried. If something happened to his son, someone would be sorry. He was watching his brothers carefully. He would wait this time, revenge would be swift and unexpected.

Ares smirked at the look on Poseidon's face. He hoped that something would happen to Percy Jackson, because when it did, there would be war for sure.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

"Ouch" Leo cringed.

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow. " Is he okay?**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay... . "**

Poseidon sighed in relief.

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring . That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road.**

Thalia watched her father carefully. She was kind of hoping that Poseidon punched her dad, for attacking Percy.

Zeus prepared to defend himself, but no attack came. Sadly his daughter seemed to want to kill him. He hoped that one day his daughter would see that he only tried to do the right thing for his family.

**Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Percy would never let that happen." Annabeth muttered.

Hades realized this was a good weakness to exploit, Percy Jackson seemed to be overly loyal to his friends. It was something to keep in mind.

**Then he groaned "Food, " and I knew there was hope.**

Leo laughed, he should hang out with Grover more, they had a lot in common.

**"Percy, " my mother said, "we have to ... " Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

Gods Poseidon moaned. Of all the monsters, why did it have to be this one?

**I swallowed hard. "Who is-"**

**"Percy, " my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car. "**

"Yes and run." Jason suggested, beating a fury was luck, but this was the Minotaur.

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

Nico and Thalia wondered how Percy got out of this. It was common knowledge that Percy defeated the Minotaur many times, but how was the mystery? Percy never talked about it.

Mr. D was surprised that the Minotaur was so close to the the camp. It was strange.

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"I make an appearance." Thalia said. Zeus was still confused on how his daughter became human again.

Jason wondered if he were to be close to death, would his father turn him into a tree too. Then again, did he want to be a tree. Jason hoped that when he died, it was some heroic feet. All Romans were taught that it was better to die heroically, than to live weakly.

**"What?"**

"I'm hard to miss kelp head." Thalia groaned.

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

Piper, Jason and Leo had trouble imagining Thalia as a tree, but one thing was for sure, she sat still better than any demigod that they had ever met.

**"That's the property line, " my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door. "**

"He isn't going to leave his mom behind his he?" Athena asked gravely. Heroics and loyalty got demigods killed.

Zeus also noted Percy's loyalty, it would be an interesting to see if he kept it up, because if he did, it would be useful in the future.

**"Mom, you're coming too. "**

Athena's suspicions were confirmed. Zeus smiled at the new information.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

"It wouldn't help, mortals can't cross the border." Piper realized.

No one corrected her.

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover. "**

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

"Percy can be quite persistent, so I wouldn't worry" Nico added as he continued on. He had learned from first hand experience; Percy never gave up.

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... Was his head. And the points that looked like horns ...**

Annabeth visualized one of the minotaur horns in Percy's cabin, it hadn't moved from it's place in years.

**"He doesn't want us, " my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

Everyone knew that this chapter wasn't going to have a happy ending.

Hestia wondered if losing his mother, would change Percy's personality. She hoped not, because he seemed like a truly remarkable demigod.

**"But... "**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please. "**

**I got mad, then-mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"Things are going to get interesting." Thalia said smugly. She had faith in Percy.

"Why?" Jason asked. Did someting tip her off.

"Percy doesn't get mad often, but when he does, well let's just say he get's things done." Thalia replied.

Ares thought that the demigod had promise. He liked the angry ones. Maybe he didn't need to die, he just needed to insult Zeus or Hades.

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom. "**

**"I told you-"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover. "**

"The boy seems awfully keen on saving his mother. Perhaps he eats enough cereal." Demeter said. No one cared.

Hades rolled his eyes.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

"Not surprised, Grover is heavy." Leo moaned.

Everyone looked at Leo.

"He fell asleep, building and I had to move him." Leo explained.

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist- high grass.**

Every demigod remembered their first time going to camp half-blood. Percy's experience was definitely interesting.

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear-I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms-which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

"That sounds so incredibly creepy." Piper moaned.

"Why wasn't he wearing pants?" Leo wanted to laugh. Leo thought it was an innocent question.

"He probably assumed a twelve year old demigod was not a threat. Perhaps he was in a rush." Athena couldn't resist answering a question.

"Or it was casual monster day." Apollo added.

Hermes laughed at Apollo's answer, he liked it alot better than Athena's.

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and- white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

"He is just a child." Poseidon moaned. What has his son didn't deserve this?

"That is one creepy monster," Leo stated. He had thought it sounded a little funny, the whole underwear thing. But now, it sounded terrifying.

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"He has proof right in front of his eyes" Zeus complained. Zeus hated those who didn't believe in him. So basically everyone.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-"**

**"Pasiphae's son, " my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you. "**

**"But he's the Min-"**

**"Don't say his name, " she warned. "Names have power. "**

"Smart mortal" Artemis said. She was impressed so far. If Sally Jackson had been a maiden she would have offered her a place in the hunt.

**The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least. I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows-or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

"He has horrible eyesight." Both Athena and Annabeth said at the same time. The shared a small smile, as Nico continued reading.

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

"Bad timing" Apollo stated. No one knew if he was making a joke at Percy's expense or if he was genuinely worried.

**"Shhh, " I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible, " she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough. "**

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe .**

"At least one good thing happened." Hermes said.

Everyone was glad that his car got totalled.

Aphrodite wasn't very interested in the chapter, it was to sad for he liking, so she focused on the task of finding a love interest for Sally. She wondered if she should let Sally have another torrid love affair, with a Poseidon type, seeing as he was the one to make her happy. Or perhaps she should look for a book smart, settle down type.

**"Percy, " my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"Strong woman." Hephaestus said, everyone agreed with his observation. Hephaestus had always admired intelligent women.

**"How do you know all this?"**

"Just listen to her" Poseidon begged.

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me. "**

"Percy wouldn't have it any other way." Annabeth stated. No one would be allowed to criticize Sally's mothering.

Hera didn't think Sally was selfish at all, she was an amazing mother. More parents should be like her.

**"Keeping me near you? But-"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

"You should discuss this another time." Jason said.

"I don't think they will have another time." Piper whispered to Jason.

**He'd smelled us.**

"Took him long enough" Are complained, he hated waiting he wanted to get to the fight.

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said. "**

"Please listen" Thalia whispered under her breath.

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

"He should stop being so descriptive." Aphrodite moaned.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

Ares leaned forward in anticipation.

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

Poseidon slightly exhaled, but he knew that Percy wasn't safe yet.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

"Percy would make it, just not his mother and the satyr." Artemis said.

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

Poseidon was aware the Sally did not stand a chance. He closed his eyes. He knew that he would not be able to save her.

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

Thalia and Nico realized that Percy didn't talk about this fight for a good reason.

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

Everyone felt so sorry for Percy. It was his mother.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

"She was a brave woman." Artemis said. They were unaware that Percy would get her back.

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... Gone.**

"Wait what?" Poseidon said. That wasn't death.

Hades instantly knew she wasn't dead. Hades realized he took her as a hostage. Why would he bother talking a mortal?

Poseidon knew that his brother had kidnapped Sally. He had a feeling his son would right this wrong on his own. He just wished he was able to help. Perhaps Hades would realize that he didn't need a hostage, or he was able to talk some sense into him.

Athena wondered what reason Hades would have for a hostage.

Hades motioned Nico to keep reading.

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

"Anger is his favourite motivator." Thalia said again this time with sadness clear in her voice.

Ares looked forward to using anger against Percy, that is if he survived this battle.

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

"He is having one bad day." Hermes mentioned.

**I couldn't allow that.**

"Like the kid has choice." Ares pointed out.

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

"He is brave." Athena said. But bravery without wisdom was pointless in her opinion.

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"He needs to come up with better insults." Apollo pointed out.

"Or he could focus on staying alive." Poseidon muttered.

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea-a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

"His stupid ideas, seem to save the day." Thalia whispered to Annabeth.

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

"It won't work" Athena said.

Poseidon cringed, Athena may have been unbearably annoying, but she was never wrong.

**But it didn't happen like that.**

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

The Gods hated that phrase. It reminded them of Kronos.

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

"WOW!" Leo exclaimed.

Ares nodded in approval.

Poseidon felt so proud.

"He isn't out of the woods just yet." Athena said, this destroyed the mood.

**How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

"Ouch!"

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

"Sounds fun." Hermes said.

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

"That may work" Athena said. "It is a weakness that you can use to your advantage."

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

"He should shut up!" Mr. D complained, he wanted to hear about this demigods death.

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**

"That won't work" Jason said softly, he wasn't Hercules.

**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!**

"Did he just..."Leo was amazed, so was everyone else.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

"Is he going to do what I think he is going to do?" Leo asked.

Annabeth didn't say anything, but her smile gave it away.

**The monster charged. Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

"Yes!" Hermes, Apollo, Leo, Thalia, Piper and Poseidon yelled.

Jason felt an unbelievable amount of jealousy. This surprised him, he had always been proud of other peoples accomplishments; or at least those he remembered. Like Reyna, she could fight better with a knife and he never felt jealous. What was wrong with him? Percy had just lost his mother, and almost died, he had nothing to feel jealous of and yet...

Poseidon was beaming with pride, his son had defeated the Minotaur at twelve. At twelve; he felt very smug indeed.

Nico interrupted the celebrating. "There is more."

Everyone's attention was drawn back to Nico.

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

"I have to admit that was epic." Leo said.

"It was one way to make an impression." Piper thought out loud. I mean who would forget that the new kid beat a Minotaur.

Hephaestus was surprised at the demigod, which he took as a good sign, normally he did care at all.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish.**

"Gods" Piper felt horrible. They had all been so happy a minute ago. They had all seemingly forgotten the fact that his mother had vanished.

Leo 's heart went out to the guy. He understood what it was like losing your mother. It was the worst feeling in the world.

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm-house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.**

"That is one good friend," Hestia murmured.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

**Aphrodite had a feeling about who the girl was.**

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be. "**

**"Silence, Annabeth."**

"Why is he the one?" Athena asked.

Annabeth was close to blushing. "It get's explained, but it's not what you think."

"That's the end of the chapter." Nico said.

"One more chapter than a break." Zeus stated.

No one argued.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**I want to thank everyone for their reviews.**

**I just want to let everyone know, that I am perfectly ok with constructive criticism, but ONLY if it is meant to be helpful, I don't want people to be mean about. If it can help me get better than keep it coming**

**Enjoy the chapter**


	6. Chapter 6

"Jason would you like to read?' Nico asked.

Jason nodded and took the book.

**I Play Pinochle With a Horse**

"These titles seem to get stranger." Leo pointed out.

"Percy get's weirder and weirder." Thalia explained.

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

Everyone chuckled. They hoped this chapter wasn't as depressing as the last one.

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"You are talking care of him" Aphrodite gushed. "That's so sweet."

Annabeth blushed slightly.

Athena glared, she hoped this was not the beginning of a relationship. She would have a word with Aphrodite.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

Athena frowned, she wasn't used not knowing. She hated not having the answer.

Zeus wondered what was going to happen, it was clear the book was leading to some important discovery.

**I managed to croak, "What?"**

"You actually expected an answer." Thalia laughed.

Annabeth nodded, "I didn't really know him then."

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over-hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

Athena looked between the big three, one of them had to have crossed the line. It was the only thing that made sense. What could have been stolen though?

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**

**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**

"Argus" Nico stated. He thought the guy was cool. He liked the people who were different. It made him feel more comfortable.

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest.**

**My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**

"Suck it up." Ares huffed. Being a demigod meant dealing with pain, it was part of battle and life.

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**

"He was too worried." Annabeth stated. She remembered watching her friend suffer, she had wanted Percy to wake up so bad, if only so that Grover felt better.

**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**

Thalia laughed, Percy had started the Goat-Boy thing.

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ...**

"Sadly that is not the case." Demeter said, the demigod was growing on her. Demeter wondered if Hades would return the boys mother, unfortunately Demeter considered Hades simply killing her more likely.

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

"A shoe box?" Leo asked.

"It's what's in it." Annabeth said as she rolled her eyes. This reminded her of spending time with Percy, she wanted to correct Percy in person, so badly.

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

"Sadly, not." Hera said. The demigods glared at her. Hera wondered if the demigods were very hostile towards her. She never interacted with demigods. Perhaps it was her bad reputation. Annoying little brats, it wasn't like she wanted to be liked. This was why she prefered the Romans.

**"The Minotaur," I said.**

"Of Course he says a dangerous name right away." Artemis groaned. All men were so irresponsible, Percy seemed even more reckless.

**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"**

"That never matters to him." Thalia said.

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

**He looked down.**

Annabeth sighed sometimes it was easy to forget how hard Percy's life was. He was always the happy one. He made everyone feel better about their own problems. She wondered if she was there for him enough.

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**

"Thank you." Thalia said.

While everyone else marvelled in the beauty of the description.

"Percy does have a way with words." Piper said.

"That's the first time someone has ever said that." Annabeth tried to joke. It just made her sadder.

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

Everyone tried to understand Percy's feelings. He seemed to make everyone feel awful.

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world."**

"No he isn't" Thalia and Annabeth said.

Zeus on the other hand nodded in agreement.

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr.**

"He is being really stubborn." Jason thought, he didn't seem to want to accept reality. He wondered what it was like not knowing who you were. All of Jason's early memories were of camp Jupiter.

"Being stubborn is a strong suit of Percy's." Thalia said.

**I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his** **head.**

"Has anyone tried?" Hermes asked. He thought it was something one of his children would try.

"No" Annabeth answered. She would have killed the person who tried to humiliate Grover.

**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs.**

**All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness,**

"Poor boy." Hera said softly. She did not want to attract any more attention.

**dissolved into yellow light.**

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**

"Right, like I would ever let him go back." Annabeth declared. Poseidon looked at the daughter of Athena, she had feelings for his son. Her mother wasn't going to like that. Poseidon decided to wait and then pass judgement.

**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first.**

Leo frowned, that life was hard. He hated to remember.

Piper put her hand on Leo's arm in comfort, she wished she had been able to help her friend back then.

Leo smiled back at Piper. Sometimes he felt like a third wheel, now that Piper and Jason were dating, but then Piper reminded him that he wasn't alone.

**I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army.**

**I'd do something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever—looked as if he expected to be hit.**

"Percy would never" Thalia said. She hated it when Grover misjudged himself.

**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

He was a kind boy Athena thought, she saw that her daughter cared about him. She was going to watch him closely. But if history was any indication once a hero discovered who he was, he would become unbearable. Most sons of Poseidon, broke girls hearts. She was not going to let her daughter fall under the boys spell, if that was the case.

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**

Zeus agreed it was his fault. It was always his fault.

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

"He compares everything to water, does he do it all the time?" Jason asked.

"He is a child of Poseidon." Artemis pointed out.

Jason blushed.

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy.**

"Sounds delicious." Leo moaned.

**My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

The demigods wished that they could feel that. Leo just wanted that feeling back.

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**

**I nodded.**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**

"Of course he feels guilty." Thalia stated.

Those who didn't know Percy were confused.

"Percy always blames himself, especially when he wasn't wrong." Thalia complained.

"He will apologize a lot" Annabeth said, if her memory was correct and it always was.

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home-made."**

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

"Sounds like a good idea," Ares said, he still wished there had been more action.

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on.**

**Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

"Things are finally getting interesting." Mr. D declared. He was entering the picture. Up until now, he had been bored, the only interesting parts were when the demigod was about to die and those parts were to short for his liking.

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**

Annabeth never realized that the minotaur horn had meant that much to Percy.

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

"That first moment takes your breath away." Annabeth said, she still remembered her first time. Everyone remembered there first time. The camp was beautiful.

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that** **they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"He notices everything," Nico said surprised. He never thought Percy was observant.

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them..**

Apohoridate loved the fact that Percy noticed Annabeth. She was certain the beginnings of a crush was in the making. Perhaps for both of them.

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call them, hubbubs?**

**No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**

"That little..." Mr. D seethed.

All the Gods burst out laughing. Even Hades chuckled.

Jason was shocked that a GOD was there camp director. For what he remembered of the Roman Camps, seeing a God was rare. But one of the major Olympians was almost unheard of.

"I think his description is perfectly accurate." Apollo said in a serious tone.

**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step-father.**

"That is at least accurate." Mr. D huffed. No mortal was a match for him.

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ."**

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**

"He does need a better beard." Aphrodite mused. Perhaps she would bless him with a makeover.

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**

Everyone chuckled slightly, it was such a Chiron thing to do.

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

Jason was reconsidering the whole honored thing. It seemed Mr. D wasn't happy to be there.

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

"The 'blonde girl'" Annabeth said in annoyed voice; "I do have a name."

"Percy is going to hear about this." Leo whispered to Jason.

Jason agreed.

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**

**Hermes was interested again; he was looking forward to hearing about his kids.**

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking.**

"I am a lot more athletic" Annabeth stated.

**With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.**

"What's wrong with my eyes" Annabeth asked.

What was wrong with her daughters eyes? Athena wondered they were just like hers, perfect.

**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**

Annabeth blushed, apparently there was nothing wrong with her eyes. She couldn't believe that seaweed brain picked up on the fact that she was analyzing him.

**She glanced at the Minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, you killed a Minotaur! Or Wow, you're so awesome! Or something like that.**

"Hahaha" Thalia laughed.

Jason, Leo and Piper didn't see that happening.

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

Everyone was laughing.

Athena was glad that Annabeth wasn't falling for the Son of Poseidon, she had been afraid that was happening.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D … does that stand for something?"**

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**Mr. D did think Chiron wasted time; he wondered why he let him go on a house call. He need someone to do his work for him.**

**"House call?"**

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to … ah, take a leave of absence."**

"What did he do to the teacher?" Leo asked.

Everyone shrugged.

"No one asked." Annabeth replied.

Leo decided to ask, when they got back to camp. Leo wondered when that would be.

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**

"Sometimes it scares me how powerful the mist is." Piper stated; especially after the whole fake boyfriend ordeal.

"It scares us all." Thalia said.

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first.**

"No one ever is" Annabeth said including her. "But we all are pleasantly surprised in the end."

**We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**

"I guess I failed a test that Percy passed." Thalia joked.

"That must be a first, Percy passing any test" Annabeth joked in response.

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**

"Everyone should be afraid of me" Dionysus yelled. "I would drive you all insane if I wanted."

Zeus just rolled his eyes, his son was far to dramatic.

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.**

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

"It's okay, no one does." Apollo said; "Unless of course he is drunk, or one of his parties, those things are wild."

Dionysus replied; "I can't stand you either, unless of course I am drunk."

Apollo was slightly crestfallen at being bested by Dionysus.

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**

"Crap I guess I'm not civilized." Leo complained.

"It's ok buddy, everyone knows that already." Jason said.

Leo smiled back at his best-friend, they laughed together.

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

Dionysus smiled at the Satyrs reaction.

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer.**

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

**"She said …" I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

**"What?" I asked.**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**

**"Orientation film?" I asked.**

Annabeth wished Percy had seen the film, it would have saved her from answering a lot of questions.

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"-he pointed to the horn in the shoe box-"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods-the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive."**

"And the cat's out of the bag" Hermes declared.

**I stared at the others around the table.**

**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**

**"Eh? Oh, all right."**

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

"Of course there is." Zeus huffed in annoyance, couldn't the boy just catch on already.

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God-capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**

"SMALLER!" Zeus exclaimed.

"I'm sure that Chiron was trying to comfort the boy, in order to make him feel comfortable. That just meant scaling the matter down to a 'smaller' level." Athena defended the teacher, she always had a soft spot for Chiron. He was a wise old Centaur.

**"Smaller?"**

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

Poseidon wished Percy had named him.

**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloudless day.**

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

"He has never been careful." Annabeth stated.

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're-myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**

"Perhaps lightning bolt would be more real to him, if say I blasted him to kingdom come." Zeus stated.

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody-**

"He doesn't like his name?" Piper asked.

"Why not he is named after a great hero" Zeus exclaimed.

"He likes it now." Annabeth said, and that was true.

Poseidon groaned, he never understood why Sally named him after a son of Zeus.

**"What will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals-they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

Poseidon glared at Mr. D.

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if… he wasn't.**

Athena wished the boy would just catch on. She was losing faith in his abilities, as he seemed to miss the obvious.

**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

Annabeth, Thalia and Nico were curious to see what Percy thought of immortality. He never talked about being offered Godhood.

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**

So he always had concerns about being a God. Annabeth was glad she didn't want to be the only reason he said no.

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**

**Zeus in particular hated that part. He had been the one who enjoyed the mortals attention, when it was gone, it was so hard for him to deal with. No more sacrifices or temples.**

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning?**

"Next person to say that will be blasted sky high." Zeus mumbled.

The demigods wondered if all the lightning attacks were just because mortals said that they didn't believe in the Gods.

**What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

"He didn't just say that to my SON" Poseidon yelled.

"I don't remember Percy trying to kill Chiron" Thalia said, and Thalia thought that Percy would attack Chiron for saying something that cruel.

Jason decided to keep reading.

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him.**

"I'm impressed" Hestia said, she liked the fact that the demigod could control his temper.

Annabeth was proud to, he figured out Chiron's plan and acted accordingly.

Jason, Leo and Piper realized that Percy really didn't lose his temper often. It must have made him even more dangerous when he was angry.

**I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**

Zeus crackled with electricity.

"You can't harm my son, the fates decreed it." Poseidon stated. He knew that Zeus was seriously considering blasting Percy sky high, as he said previously.

Zeus just sulked.

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe."**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"Dionysus…" Zeus warned."You better not drink that."

Dionysus, wondered if he had finally broke, it would be awful if he drank that wine. He was afraid of what his father would do to him.

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**

**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**

**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**

**More thunder.**

Zeus was glad he was on top of the situation. He didn't like it when Dionysus acted like a child. He always had to disobey his rules.

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me.**

Zeus agreed, he did enjoy punishing him.

**The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time-well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away-the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**

"I think it was perfectly fair, seeing as I was the one who suggested it." Athena remarked. Father came to her all the time to ask for her ideas for a punishment.

"Why you" Mr. D seethed.

Zeus interrupted him, because Athena was his favourite. "I would watch your mouth, or else I will sentence you to another 20 years at that Camp."

This shut Mr. D up.

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

**"And …" I stammered, "your father is …"**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**

Annabeth was glad that Percy figured that out, otherwise he might have been turned into some nasty creature. Mr. D was really irritable that day.

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**

"Not anymore" Piper whispered.

Jason wanted to laugh, but he held his tongue. It was the respectful thing to do.

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

**"You wish" Aphrodite moaned.**

**"You're a god."**

**"Yes, child."**

**"A god. You."**

The Gods chuckled at Dionysus expense.

Mr. D decided he was going to make Peter Johnson's like a living hell.

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

Mr. D smirked, the demigods looked away, unable to make eye contact. That made him very happy.

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir."**

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**

Dionysus couldn't believe he won. All the Gods saw a true smile on Dionysus face.

Annabeth almost felt bad for him, almost.

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**

Dionysus mood instantly deflated. Hermes and Apollo chuckled.

Hestia on the other hand said, "No one ever beats that old Centaur."

Dionysus was surprised that Hestia was trying to comfort him. He just nodded in response, he had a reputation to maintain.

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher.**

Sadly Dionysus was used to losing to him. It had been happening for centuries.

**He got up, and Grover rose, too.**

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**

"Percy is at camp half-blood, which means it is a success." Thalia exclaimed

"No little girl, it isn't. It seems that Mr. Johnson dragged the Satyr across the finish line not the other way around." Mr. D argued.

"That doesn't matter, all a protector has to do is insure that the demigod arrives to the camp. If the demigod and the protector is alive, the mission is complete." Annabeth retorted.

"It is up to me what is considered a success and a failure, next person to argue with be turned into a donkey." Mr. D stated.

"Don't threaten my daughter!" Zeus shouted. It was clear he was in no mood to be crossed.

Thalia was surprised that her father was standing up for her.

Artemis had her bow in her hand, "I wouldn't threaten my hunter if I were you."

Athena gave Dionysus a look that made it clear that he should shut up.

Both Thalia and Annabeth were touched.

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**

Hermes perked up at the mention of cabin eleven.

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

"We have to tell Grover that Percy really cared about what happened to him." Piper thought.

"I have a feeling that he already knows," Annabeth answered.

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job.**

"He is both mad, and hates his job." Apollo corrected.

**He's been … ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**

Which was unfair, Dionysus thought.

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like … in America?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**

**"The what?"**

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or as I hope you know, since you passed my course-the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

"We are not dead!" Zeus yelled.

"It is impossible for us to die." Athena corrected.

"This boy isn't getting." Hades moaned, the whole immortal thing isn't that complicated.

**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either-America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**

"I guess it is a club" Leo said, "one with terrible luck."

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who … who am I?"**

Everyone chuckled at the deep question.

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear,**

The demigods and a few Gods laughed at that. It was a funny visual.

**but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

**"That's the end of the chapter." Jason said.**

Hera felt very pleased with herself when she sent the demigods back in time. She had thought her ploy had worked. Hera had not counted on the loyalty the camp had to Percy Jackson. It as the reason that she wanted him part of the seven, but it was interfering with her plan.

The camp had decided that Leo, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Thalia and Nico went out for an important quest. Out of all the campers Clarisse took charge. She wouldn't let people slow down. The Stoll's had stopped pranking, everyone was making an effort.

Hera watched, as Clarrise yelled at Will who had slowed down. Honestly Clarrise was enjoying being in charge. All the demigods were to afraid to slow down in anyway.

Hera had just woken Percy out of his slumber, they were to ahead of schedule. Hera knew that she didn't have enough power to send all of the Campers back to the past, she needed to choice the campers most devoted to Jackson.

She sighed hoping there were enough happy marriages.

All the eyes on Mount Olympus were drawn to the light.

With a flash a group of demigods came out.

"What is going on?" Clarisse asked.

The Gods groaned they couldn't believe that one of them was stupid enough to keep tempting fate.

"You have been sent back in time." Zeus moaned. "We are reading about the adventures of Percy Jackson, now introduce yourselves."

"Clarisse Daughter of Ares."

"Katie Gardnier Daughter of Demeter."

"Conner and"

"Travis Stoll."

"Sons of Hermes." The said in unison.

"Chris Rodriguez Son of Hermes."

"Will Solace Son of Apollo."

"And Malcolm Son of Athena."

"Welcome children." Athena said. "Sit down and let me begin reading."

Annabeth whispered to her fellow demigods. "This is about our first quest, don't give anything away. The Fates will be angry."

Everyone nodded. The wondered if they would finally find out what happens during in Percy and Annabeth's quest. They never really were told someone the full story.

* * *

**Authors Note:**

******Please don't expect 2 chapters a day, I just had a lot of time today. **

**Thank You for all the lovely reviews, I hope u guys enjoy the chapter :) **


	7. Chapter 7

The Gods stood up from their thrones, they had not anticipated the length of the council meeting. In most solstice meetings, Zeus would tell them not to break ancient rules, Hera would lecture on the sanctity of marriage, then some gods would threaten war, Ares would be happy, and then Poseidon and Zeus would fight, the council would be over.

Now all the Gods were unsure of what to do. They had to make individual preparations. Apollo for example had to make sure the sun was taken care of.

Hestia was talking to Annabeth. She was trying to find appropriate accommodations for the demigods.

Of the demigods Annabeth knew Olympus the best so she was offering her impute.

While the newcomers were getting a rundown of what they missed from Piper and Leo.

"That's how he defeated the Minotaur!" Conner exclaimed.

"Why didn't he tell us? That is so epic." Travis agreed.

No one mentioned the details of Percy's home life. That was up to Percy to share.

Clarisse was impressed slightly by Prissy's technique, but he was still a loser.

Jason on the other hand was watching his Father, he was moving from his throne. Ever since he was a child, Jason had dreamed of meeting his father, he had always hoped he would do something so great that his father would seek him out. But when Jason had fought a Titan, and his father didn't seek him out, Jason accepted that his father just didn't care. Maybe he was still a little hurt.

Thalia walked over to her brother. "Hey Jay."

"What's up Thalia?' Jason asked. He could see the pity in her eyes. He hated pity. He was a strong Roman warrior, who didn't need his father's approval.

"Just checking in" Thalia didn't want to make Jason uncomfortable.

Thalia could see Jason watching Father, she knew how he felt, she had felt the same way for a long time. He probably resented him, hated him a little. Zeus was not the kindest father. But once Thalia had joined the hunt, she had started to let go of the resentment. Artemis had helped. She had told her something, that she was going to tell Jason.

"Just so you know, Dad isn't that bad. One day you accept the way he is. Father will do what he thinks is right, no matter how others feel. He is stubborn, but he tries to do good."

Thalia didn't mention how she thought he was an idiot, and he messed to much stuff up. She was trying to get Jason to accept his father.

Zeus heard that. Did his daughter just defend him?

Zeus cleared his throat, he was next to both Thalia and Jason.

"Children." He said.

"Father" Thalia said. This made Zeus feel awkward. His daughter really did know how to stare someone down.

"Thalia" Zeus began.

"Father, I don't need any explanation, but Jason does." With that response Thalia walked towards Annabeth.

Annabeth and Hestia had come to the conclusion that setting up cots around her hearth would be the most welcoming.

"Jason, your sister is very..." Zeus was looking for the correct word to describe his daughter.

"Strong, powerful, independent" Jason supplied. It was clear to the King of Gods that Jason greatly admired Thalia, even though they had only known each other a short time.

"She is all those things." Zeus agreed. "She is also very blunt. From what I gather you carry some resentment towards me."

Jason had always been taught to hold his emotions in. Yet now his father was standing in front of him, and all Jason could feel was anger, for all the years that he was left without his family.

"YES!" Jason shouted. "You let Hera take me from my sister! You never once visited me, or even spoke to me. Never once giving me any guidance."

Poseidon visited Percy, so he knew Gods could.

Zeus was not upset by Jason's thoughts. His children always felt this way towards him. But for once he had a chance to explain himself. "Let me tell you something Jason, you might think that we Gods ignore you because we are selfish, but it is the exact opposite. The ancient laws are there for a reason."

Jason scoffed.

Zeus chose to ignore that. "If the Gods interfered more with the lives of their children, we would only make it worse. Trust me Jason your life is better without my constant interference. And as the King I have to make sure I follow the rules, otherwise no one else will."

Jason wanted to believe that his father had pure motives. But he would always wonder.

"I always do what is best for my family. Even if no one else see's that way." Zeus stated. "And when you needed me I was there."

Zeus could see his son consider what he said. Zeus was used to his children hating him, it was a necessary evil. He had to obey the laws.

"I needed you when I was three and on my own" Jason countered.

"Really, the legion took you in and you were part of family." Zeus said. He had watched Jason as a child he was a good roman soldier.

"Well...Jason...you did good." Zeus stated, he saw Hera watching him. He walked over to his wife, the left hand in hand.

Jason watched as his father left with Hera.

Thalia walked back towards Jason, she and Annabeth had been watching their conversation. Between her and Annabeth, the two had been able to guess what Zeus was saying, based on lip reading. Thalia had heard her father's excuses before, she had decided that Zeus believed what he said, he always thought he was doing the right thing.

Jason smiled at his sister.

"By the way, you have done more than good, Jason you are an amazing demigod and leader. I am proud of you." Thalia stated to her brother.

Jason couldn't help but smile even brighter. Thalia's compliment was so much better than the one from his father. It meant a lot more.

"Just so you know, Dad thinks he is doing the right thing, you may not like it, but you can respect it." Thalia hoped that was helpful.

It was, Jason could respect his father. Even though he wished things were different. He kinda wanted his father to be like Lord Poseidon, but he couldn't change anything. He had to accept the way his father was, like Thalia had.

The rest of the demigods were hanging out with their parents now. Annabeth though was playing around with the cots. Even though Hestia had set them up perfectly. She was just trying to avoid her mother.

Piper was standing with her Mom. She was getting quizzed on Sally Jackson. Piper refused to say anything, she didn't want to interfere, or say something about the future.

"Is she happy?" Aphrodite wanted to know if she made the right choice.

"They are perfect for each other." Piper answered.

Of course they were both happy, Aphrodite thought, she was never wrong. Aphrodite decided to start quizzing Piper on her love life.

"So how good of a kisser is Jason?"

"MOM!" Piper shouted. She was blushing, this was not a conversation she wanted to have with her mother, or anyone.

Meanwhile, Leo and Hephaestus weren't talking, but tinkering with a car engine, both of them completely content.

Travis, Conner and Chris were playing with George and Martha. They accidentally blasted Hermes throne. Which seriously annoyed the God, but that didn't stop him from laughing.

Clarisse was telling her father about all the demigods and monsters she had crushed before the age of twelve. Ares would interject with tales of his own awesomeness.

Apollo and Will were going through each others music.

Malcolm had gone to explore Olympus.

Meanwhile Nico watched his father closely. He had been avoiding him, ever since he had let Hazel out of the underworld.

Hades wasn't sure how to talk to his son. Nico was probably mad at him for the whole casino thing, his children always hated him.

"Nico, I am glad you are out of the Casino." Hades said softly. He did not want any of the Gods to interrupt or over hear the conversation.

"I'm glad too." Nico stated bitterly.

Hades watched his son carefully. "It was safe, no monsters could get you, far more child friendly then the underworld. I also assume you and your sister did have fun playing games and such."

Nico realized that his father had thought out the decision to leave him in the Lotus Casino. "I guess, it wasn't so bad. But I am never stepping foot in there again."

Hades chuckled darkly. "Good idea."

The two stared at each other awkwardly.

"Um... want to eat something." Nico said. Even though he saw his father a lot more, he still felt weird around him.

Hades nodded conjuring up a couple McDonalds Happy Meals. Children liked those right?

Nico smiled to himself. "These are great for summoning the dead."

Hades felt a tug of pride for his son. The two began to eat in comfortable silence.

Annabeth was the only one avoiding a happy reunion with her parent. She didn't want to talk to her. Not after the Mark of Athena. She still didn't fully understand what it meant. All she knew was, she didn't want it.

Athena had been patiently waiting for her daughter to come to her. Athena had assumed that Annabeth would want to speak to her. But Annabeth seemed to have no interest in that. Malcolm had already asked for a run down of Olympus, she had been happy to comply.

Poseidon walked up to his rival.

"I would just go up to her." Poseidon said gently.

Athena looked at him, puzzled by his kind tone.

Poseidon laughed at her expression. "I only say this because if my son were here, I would talk to him. We never get that much time with our children, maybe you should use the time you have."

Athena nodded at Poseidon. "You are right time is precious."

Poseidon watched his family interact with their children. Even Artemis was enjoying time with Thalia and Hestia. He wondered if his Son was even alive, and how hard his life had been. He was understandably sad.

Poseidon walked away to his chambers. He wanted to think about something else. He had to avoid the urge to check on his son.

Annabeth saw her mom comes towards her, she had no choice but to talk to her.

"Annabeth, I would like to discuss your apparent relationship with Percy Jackson." Athena said calmly. It was time to give her daughter the harsh truth.

"We aren't supposed to talk about the future." Annabeth said in the same tone.

Athena nodded, "that may be, but I would like to give you a suggestion."

Annabeth crossed her arms in a defensive manner, but didn't say anything.

Athena wondered why her daughter was behaving in this manner. She was so hostile.

"Annabeth dear, I know that women, even wise women, can fall under a boy's spell..." Athena started. The Goddess of Wisdom saw Annabeth get angry. She looked a lot like her, when she lost her temper.

This did not deter Athena.

"Son of Sea Gods never stay faithful, even in friendship."

Annabeth laughed at that. Percy was one of the most loyal people in the world. Hades, his fatal flaw is loyalty.

Athena kept trying adding "I can also see that he is not very intelligent..."

"Enough Mother!" Annabeth shouted. She had enough, her mother didn't even know Percy yet.

All the demigods knew that Annabeth was angry. Athena was shocked to see her own daughter use that tone. She was trying to look out for her best interests.

Annabeth was seething. She hated it when Gods misjudged Percy. Annabeth needed to get her mother to listen.

"You can't judge Percy, you don't know him. He has been there for me! He is the one person I would want to watch my back! Unlike you, he has never hurt me! Don't say you're looking out for my best interests Mother!" Annabeth shouted.

Athena was beyond shocked. How dare her daughter speak to her in this way! She was sure it was the sea spawns fault.

Annabeth wasn't done though. She had been holding her feelings in for so long, but now she couldn't rein them back. "And another thing Percy isn't stupid! He is so much smarter than people give him credit for. He thinks on his feet, and always does the right thing!"

Thalia could hear the pain in her friend's voice. Athena could hear it too. It was the only reason she was not shouting at her daughter.

"Percy watches my back, he is my best friend and so much more. " Annabeth didn't sound angry anymore. She just sounded broken. "I miss him, so much." She whispered.

That was the end of her speech. Thalia stepped up. She stared at everyone and they looked away all going back to their own things.

Athena stood there staring at her daughter. Athena wondered if Percy Jackson had died. Maybe that is why her daughter put Percy on a pedestal.

Thalia came up to her friend and held her in her arms. Annabeth wasn't going to cry. She refused to cry now, not after so many months of being strong.

"Annabeth, I..." Athena trailed off.

"I'm sorry I shouted, Mother. We can talk another time." With that Annabeth and Thalia went off into their own corner.

Athena left for her own chambers wondering what happened between her and her daughter, because something definitely wasn't right.

Hestia made sure the demigods ate dinner, then the Gods retired to their own chambers, and the demigods went to sleep after an emotionally tiring day.

The next morning the demigods were treated to a lavished breakfast, courtesy of Hestia.

Annabeth walked over to her mom.

"I am sorry for my outburst...um... you were looking out for my best interests. I know that Son of Sea gods have a reputation, but you will see through the books that Percy is different." Annabeth said confidently. Eventually Percy would win over Athena. He won over everyone.

Even though Athena had done some annoying things, Annabeth still wanted to have a relationship with her mother.

Athena was confident that the books would prove the opposite too Annabeth. She was sure that her daughter just wasn't aware of the boys inner workings.

"I will listen, Annabeth darling. I hope you are right," Athena stated. She would be there for her daughter when the sea spawn failed her.

Poseidon watched Annabeth closely. He had heard all about her outburst. He was even more curious about her and his son's relationship.

Zeus stood up. "We should finish eating, so we can continue reading. Many of us have other matters to attend to."

All the demigods took their seats, followed by the Gods.

"Which demigod would like to read?" Zeus asked.

Everyone said not it. All except for Clarisse she was last.

Clarisse swore under her breath as she went to get the book from Zeus.

"Are we sure she can even read?" Conner mocked.

His brother chuckled. While Chris looked uncomfortable.

Clarisse turned around and walked by Conner and smacked him upside the head.

Ares smirked with pride.

Clarisse sat down. Once she read the title of the chapter, she groaned.

This got everyone curious.

"**I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom"**

Annabeth knew that Clarisse was not going to like the chapter.

"So Percy is a Lord" Leo stated thoughtfully. "Does he have a toilet throne?"

Everyone groaned.

Leo huffed. "I thought it was funny."

"No one else did" Piper stated bluntly.

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,**

Leo chuckled at Percy. He really wanted to meet him.

**We had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him. I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

Everyone one laughed.

"Now that is funny, Leo" Piper said.

Leo had to agree. Percy was a funny guy.

"I will never look at Chiron in the same way." Travis laughed.

No one was going to look at Chiron in the same way.

Mr. D was going to tell Chiron this story when he beat him at any game.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's **_**him."**_

"That was me," Chris said.

"We were all staring." Katie added. "He made an entrance."

"He sure did" Apollo agreed with Katie. He liked the dramatic ones.

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

The campers that were there began to look embarrassed, everyone except Clarisse that is.

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

"Oracle?" Katie whispered to Annabeth, who nodded.

"**What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

"**Somebody lives there?"**

Jason, Piper and Leo wondered who lived there. It was empty now.

"**No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**

"Not a single living thing," Malcolm echoed. He was really impressed with Chiron's answer.

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

Apollo hoped that his oracle was alright. He glared at Hades. Hades shrugged.

"**Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**

"I hate that sound." Chris moaned.

A lot of the demigods agreed.

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

Demeter asked Katie "Do you help with the farming?"

"All your children help, along with Mr. D's kids." Katie answered.

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.**

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

"He is stronger than people give him credit for" Annabeth said. "Grover can handle Mr. D"

Dionysus huffed. He would insure that he broke Grover. He couldn't have his reputation ruined.

"**Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean…he was a good protector. Really."**

"That's really sweet" Piper said. It was so nice, to check in on his friend.

"He is always so worried about people, it can be so annoying." Thalia laughed.

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. **

Zeus laughed at that.

**To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**

"**But he did that!"**

"No he didn't." Dionysus disagreed.

"**I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. **

Dionysus agreed that he was right; it was not his place to judge.

**Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. **

"I wish it was up to me only, those old satyrs are annoying as Tartarus. " Dionysus stated.

"You should stop complaining." Zeus told his son.

The demigods liked watching Mr. D get in trouble.

**I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate…ah…fate of your mother. **

At the mention of Sally, Poseidon's hurt ached.

**And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

Leo thought that was a bit harsh. Grover had done his best.

"The council is stupid anyways." Clarisse muttered. She hated those old goats. They were always sticking their nose where it didn't belong.

**I wanted to protest. **

"I won't care" Mr. D stated.

**None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. **

Annabeth smiled at Thalia.

Athena was surprised at the level of empathy Percy was showing. Then again he wasn't aware of his parentage, nor had he had a chance to go on a quest. A hero always got a bigger ego, after a big quest.

**If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

"Mother, this should help you see, Percy isn't selfish." Annabeth said softly. She didn't want to be angry at her mother, at least not this version of her mother. Annabeth knew that in the future her mother would be splitting into different versions of herself, but this woman was one she liked.

"**He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

Leo, Jason and Piper thought of course, Grover must have done great on his second chance.

"I bet his second chance was Nico, right? Another child of the big three." Piper considered.

"Percy was his second chance." Thalia said. "Getting Nico is a complicated story."

Piper wondered how Grover became Lord of the Wild then.

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. **

"He shouldn't have gotten a second chance." Zeus stated plainly. Grover failed _his _daughter.

**He's still so small for his age…"**

"**How old is he?"**

"**Oh, twenty-eight."**

"Wait, he is what?" Leo asked.

"No way." Travis said. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"Yah the old goat." Conner moaned. "We would have gotten him a walker or something."

"That's why." Katie said.

Everyone else laughed.

"**What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

"**Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle student for the past six years."**

"That sucks" Chris sympathized.

"Yah being in the sixth grade once is bad, twice horrible, but six times, I don't have words." Leo said somberly.

"Not an age I would pick. It's stupid, you're like twelve, you can't do anything." Apollo added. If he had stay one age, it would be 22 or something cool like that.

"Actually brother I disagree" Artemis began.

"What's new?' Apollo asked. "You always disagree with me."

"Because you are always wrong. Many of my hunters are that age." Artemis completed her thought.

Apollo just made a face at his sister.

"I thought you said you didn't want to be twelve?" Artemis asked. "Your acting like you are."

Everyone, even the Gods laughed at that.

Apollo pouted more.

"**That's horrible."**

"**Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career…"**

"Chiron has a lot of faith in Grover" Piper noticed.

"At the time Chiron was being realistic." Malcolm pointed out.

Annabeth and Thalia both disagreed. "People just didn't understand Grover." Thalia stated.

"Grover has so many great qualities, so who cares if he can't do woodland magic." Annabeth added.

"**That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

"Touchy subject" Annabeth said with a smile. "He always asks about touchy subjects."

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. **

"He never drops it." Thalia said. "It get's annoying, most of the time."

**Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word **_**death. **_

Athena was surprised that Percy picked up on that. Perhaps he was more intelligent than she gave him credit for.

Poseidon did not want Percy to worry about this, it would only lead him into more danger.

Hades wondered if the reason the daughter of Athena missed Percy, was because he had killed him.

Jason, Leo and Piper wondered how Sally Jackson was indeed alive, they were dying for the answer. No pun intended.

**The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

"No!" Poseidon shouted. "Please tell me he isn't thinking of doing something stupid."

"Then we would have to lie to you Lord Poseidon." Annabeth stated.

"Ya, everything Percy does is stupid." Travis added.

"Plus dangerous." Conner helped.

"Let's just say you never want him to get an idea." Nico contributed.

The Gods wondered if this demigod could truly be as reckless as his friends made him out to be.

"**Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real…"**

"We are really!" Zeus exclaimed. "There is no if!"

"O' let it go Zeus" Hera moaned. She was so tired of hearing his complaints about non believers, every day he would complain.

Zeus huffed. His wife never wanted to listen to him.

"**Yes, child?"**

"**Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

Hades chuckled darkly. "It is very real."

"This is why people think you are creepy." Apollo pointed out.

"I am creepy." Hades said unashamed of his behavior.

**Chiron's expression darkened.**

"**Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. **

"He doesn't want to give Percy any ideas." Annabeth explained.

"Doesn't work" Malcolm added.

"It never does." Thalia clarified.

**"There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now…until we know more…I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

"Like that would work." Annabeth said.

"What does Chiron mean 'until we know more'?" Athena questioned.

"Prissy asks that." Clarisse said, she was skimming ahead.

Annabeth was glad that Percy was asking good questions.

"**What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**

"**Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

Athena sighed, she wished Chiron would answer the question.

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. **

Jason hated how big the forest was. He was used to the city. He preferred the city.

**It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

"It's breath taking" Piper said.

"Nature is amazing." Katie added.

Demeter smiled at her daughter. "An appreciation for nature is a great quality."

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

"I recommend not too" Leo said.

"Don't be a wuss." Clarisse said.

"The woods can be fun" Thalia stated.

Annabeth nodded.

"**Stocked with what?" I asked. **

"Monsters" Malcolm and Annabeth said in unison. Neither of them could resist answering a question.

**"Armed with what?"**

"Weapons." Athena answered before her children could.

"**You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

"**My own-?"**

"**No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, **

"The best kind" Malcolm answered.

"Agreed." The rest of the demigods stated.

**but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**

The demigods chuckled. Even a few the gods joined in. One in particular liked the visual (Dionysus, the sore loser).

**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

"Favorite part of camp." Thalia stated.

Clarisse had to agree.

"**Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

"You will love to fight" Annabeth said.

Poseidon hoped his son was skilled with a sword. Otherwise he would not hear the end of it. He just needed to be decent. His powers would compensate for any deficiencies in battle.

"**Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**

Jason wondered how often things were lethal. "When was the last time someone died?"

"It's been a few years." Annabeth said. "We've had a couple close calls."

Annabeth was looking at Thalia.

"But mostly, campers respect the rules."

Jason wondered what his sister did.

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone white picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

"It never rains" Malcolm stated simply. "At least it should never rain."

The gods wondered when it rained.

Leo realized that it never rained. He had just thought camp half-blood was having really good luck with the weather. He felt stupid.

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?"I decided to drop the subject.**

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collections of buildings I'd ever seen.**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zeus asked.

"They look weird" Hermes clarified.

Zeus gave Hermes a little shock. "Don't give me attitude."

"I should have seen that coming." Hermes muttered under his breath.

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. **

So this is what the camp looked like before, Jason, Piper and Leo thought.

**Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**

Hephaestus nodded in approval.

**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**

Demeter smiled at her cabin.

**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. **

Apollo smirked. "My cabin is awesome."

"I have to agree dad." Will said.

"More like lame." Artemis corrected.

"You're just jealous. Gold is way better than silver." Apollo countered.

"No it isn't. Silver is superior." Artemis argued.

"Gold is worth more."

"Silver is more useful."

"Enough" Zeus said loudly. He didn't want to hear this argument again.

**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, (which were more my speed).**

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

"That is me." Hestia stated. "I am surprised he saw me. Demigods rarely do."

All the demigods besides Nico realized that they hadn't seen her.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, **

"Hey!" Hera and Zeus shouted.

"He only said that because no one had lived in them for a while." Annabeth quickly defended her boyfriend. She didn't want those to have another reason to hate Percy.

**bit white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**

Annabeth hated the cabin. So did Piper, she had bad memories of the place.

"**Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**

"**Correct," Chiron said.**

"**Their cabins look empty."**

"They should always be empty." Hera muttered.

Zeus sighed.

"**Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

I do, Jason thought. Sadly he was always alone. He thought when Thalia came to camp he would get a roommate, but she stayed with the hunters.

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot. **

"We are not mascot!" Zeus yelled.

"Brother he is only trying to understand." Poseidon defended.

"He should understand faster!" Zeus countered. Athena agreed.

**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympus. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

Poseidon hoped Percy would be drawn to the cabin.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, **

"Because me ego is smaller." Poseidon explained.

"Not by much." Athena stated.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" Hermes and Apollo said laughing together.

**but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been shewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**

"Percy doesn't care." Annabeth stated. "He never cares, it makes him who he is."

"Which is annoying." Thalia added.

Annabeth just shook her head.

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

Poseidon wished the cabin had felt more like home.

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

"Too crowded." Chris muttered under his breath. He wished that the gods could have seen their mistakes without needed a war and Percy too show them they were wrong.

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

"Hey!" Clarisse shouted. "I am going to kill him."

"Don't worry you look beautiful." Chris said softly.

Aphrodite winked at him.

Clarisse smiled at Chris. "Thanks."

Travis and Conner were making kissy faces at their brother.

"Stop." Piper stated clearly.

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

Jason was glad. He still felt uncomfortable about Centaurs.

"We should invite the party ponies." Travis said.

"Yah those dudes are awesome." Conner agreed.

Dionysus actually liked the party ponies, they liked to party.

"If you too want to clean up the mess" Annabeth said.

"Never mind they suck." Conner and Travis said in unison.

Everyone laughed.

Mr. D still considered the idea.

"**No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

"Not yet..." Mr. D trailed off.

"**You said you name was Chiron. Are you really…"**

Annabeth was impressed Percy made the connection, even all these years later, Percy never really paid any attention to mythology.

**He smiled down at me. "**_**The **_**Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**

"**But, shouldn't you be dead?"**

Everyone laughed.

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. **

"He can't die" Hades stated. "He is still needed."

**"I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish…and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**

"He is definitely needed." Annabeth said.

"He is the best teacher ever!" Katie stated.

"I couldn't imagine a more qualified educator." Malcolm added.

"Or someone more understanding" Will said. "But he does need better music."

A couple laughs followed that comment, especially by Annabeth.

"He treats everyone equally." Nico said softly. Which was really nice for him.

Travis and Conner were about to contribute to the Chiron love when Mr. D got annoyed.

"Alright we get it. This doesn't even matter, it's not like we are actually going to be able to replace Chiron."

"Please remember this conversation." Annabeth said.

"Why"

"Never mind." Annabeth said, she couldn't tell him anything about the future.

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

Annabeth was glad that Percy didn't seem to like the idea of immortality at all. She had been worried that Percy would regret his decision some day.

"**Doesn't it ever get boring?"**

"**No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

"I'd rather be bored." Leo stated.

No one disagreed.

All the Gods understood how Chiron felt. Immortality came with a price.

"**Why depressing?"**

"Losing loved ones." Aphrodite said.

"Watching children die." Apollo said, he looked so serious.

"Watching horrible things happen over and over again." Hermes stated.

"Immortality doesn't guarantee perfection." Zeus said wisely.

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again. **

"It must have been so annoying to be Percy." Leo observed. Chiron seemed to go deaf like every five minutes.

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us." The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

"He should start using my name." Annabeth stated.

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

Annabeth laughed.

"What were you thinking?" Leo asked.

"Yah what were you thinking?" Travis and Conner asked while winking.

"Whether Percy was a friend or enemy." Annabeth answered, not adding the fact that she thought he was cute.

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. **

"No it was just Greek." Annabeth couldn't resist correcting Percy.

**Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**

"**Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

"**Yes, Sir."**

"**Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. **

"My cabin is just fine" Hermes stated.

"We really should fix up the place." Chris stated thoughtfully.

**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it…?**

"A caduceus," Malcolm said automatically.

**A caduceus.**

George and Martha hissed in Hermes pocket.

"Guys it's not for you." Hermes stated.

"You should turn them on vibrate." Zeus stated.

Hermes felt like a teenager being told to turn off his phone in class.

"They were only hissing." Hermes muttered under his breath.

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

Jason, Piper and Leo were surprised by this new information. It didn't sound like a very nice way to live.

Travis, Conner and Chris preferred their cabin now. It was much more comfortable. They had their own space.

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

Dionysus glared at the Hermes children they never bowed respectfully for him.

"**Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. **

"Did he expect them to bow?" Hermes said laughingly. It was a miracle that his kids bowed for Chiron.

**They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew the routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**

"**Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself. **

The demigods laughed.

Jason couldn't believe the guys luck. He couldn't seem to catch a break.

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

"We were nervous since everyone knew he fought the Minotaur." Chris said. "O' and because of Annabeth."

Annabeth laughed. "Nice recovery."

Chris chuckled.

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**

"**Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

"Huh?" Leo said.

Annabeth shock her head and mouthed LATER.

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**

**Everybody groaned.**

The older demigods, specifically the children of Hermes were glad this was no longer an issue.

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor right over there.**

Annabeth and Thalia immediately knew who it was. There expressions tipped off the older campers.

Everyone else was oblivious.

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cut offs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a think white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

"Luke" Hermes said fondly, he hoped his son was well.

"Be careful not to tip of the gods." Annabeth whispered to Thalia.

Thalia relayed the message to the rest of the older campers.

"**This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and could've sworn she was blushing. **

The demigods looked at her. All somewhat smiling, Thalia just felt bad for Annabeth.

Annabeth was glaring at the book. She was going to kill Percy.

"I wasn't blushing." Annabeth denied.

Aphrodite could see the beginning of a love triangle.

Athena wondered if the child of Hermes was worthier of Annabeth than a child of Poseidon.

**She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. **

"Ouch" Leo said.

Annabeth punched him.

Leo decided not to comment on Annabeth's relationship anymore.

**"He's you counselor for now."**

"**For now?" I asked.**

"**You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put three to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

"Good thing he remembered" Hermes stated.

"It is, half the cabin was already eyeing the Minotaur horn." Chris added.

"I bet you were one of them" Conner stated.

"Like you weren't" Chris countered.

"Alright the entire cabin wanted to steal the horn." Travis stated.

"Percy would have killed you" Annabeth said. She had realized how much the horn meant to him.

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

"How can he be so observant and yet so obtuse." Annabeth moaned. He noticed these little details about people, and yet he couldn't see that she was crazy about him. Stupid seaweed brain!

"One of the great mysteries of the world." Thalia stated.

"**How long will I be here?" I asked.**

"**Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

"**How long will that take?"**

**The campers all laughed.**

"It wasn't funny though." Chris pointed out. "That was bitterness."

The Gods didn't look at the demigods, at least the ones with children didn't.

"**Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**

"**I've already seen it."**

"See he can be so obtuse" Annabeth complained again.

"It's just who he is" Nico pointed out.

"**Come on."**

**She grabbed my waist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**

**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**

"**What?"**

Malcolm wondered how frustrated Annabeth was going to get.

"Remember he hasn't seen the orientation film" Thalia pointed out.

"Not like it will help now." Annabeth stated.

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

Aphrodite winked at Annabeth.

"Not like that" Annabeth moaned.

The demigods laughed.

"Just like that" Thalia whispered.

Annabeth motioned for Clarisse to keep reading.

"**What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. **

"Percy got mad at Annabeth?" Travis said faking a shocked tone.

"I thought that wasn't possible." Conner mocked.

"Where have you too been, they spend half their time fighting" Thalia pointed out.

Travis and Conner went "O'". They were both embarrassed.

Athena was confused her daughter said she loved him. Why were they arguing half the time?

Poseidon on the other hand was worried how serious the relationship was. He saw arguing as passion, and passion was dangerous.

**"All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

"He should be proud." Jason said. "That is a major accomplishment.

"**Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had you chance."**

"**To get killed?"**

"We are good." Katie said. "I like living."

"**To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**

"To protect ourselves." Malcolm corrected his sister. "You wanted to fight sis."

Annabeth shrugged.

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was **_**the**_** Minotaur, the same one in the stories…"**

"**Yes."**

"**Then there's only one."**

Athena groaned.

"**Yes."**

"**And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. SO…"**

Poseidon liked Theseus, he was a good kid. He made history.

"**Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**

"That makes so much sense" Leo said sarcastically.

Annabeth shot him a look.

"**Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

"See Percy agrees with me" Leo stated smugly.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes.

"**They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."**

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**

"I can't believe Percy killed a monster by accident." Will said while shaking his head. That kid had skills.

"**The Fur…I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**

Hades still couldn't believe he had bested a fury. "She will be out for blood. Percy should be afraid."

Nico huffed to himself. Percy was never afraid.

"**How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

"**You talk in your sleep."**

"Does he still do that?" Conner asked suggestively.

Annabeth blushed.

Thalia shocked Conner with lightning.

Conner and Travis got the message.

"**You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

"And much more, they organize my life, you now all the boring transport of souls, and extra torture. Really they are the best assistants." Hades cleared up.

"They are pure evil, avoid at all costs" Nico corrected.

Everyone decided to listen to Nico.

**Annabeth glance nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**

"**Look, is there anything we **_**can **_**say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. **

"At least he notices that" Hestia said softly. She liked people who could see that they were flawed. "Now he has to care."

**"Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

Great question, Jason, Piper and Leo thought.

Bad question the older campers thought.

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or…your parent."**

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**

"You might as well get comfortable." Thalia said "this is going to take a while."

"**My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**

"**I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**

Annabeth sighed, Percy was going to take forever to get this. It might offend Poseidon.

"**He's dead. I never knew him."**

Poseidon chuckled. He was very much alive.

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. **

**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**

"**How can you say that? You know him?"**

"**No, of course not."**

"**Then how can you say—"**

"He is being stubborn" Athena noticed.

"He is" Annabeth said. Most kids got it by now, but Percy was determined not to.

"**Because I know **_**you. **_**You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**

"One of us, one of us" Travis and Conner chanted.

"Shut up!" The rest of the demigods shouted.

"Fine" The two huffed.

"**You don't know anything about me."**

"**No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around school to school. I bet you were kicked out a lot of them."**

"Harsh" Leo said.

"Why, it's the truth" Malcolm asked.

"Trust me, people who get kicked out of schools, generally don't like to be reminded of it." Leo stated sadly.

"Ok" Malcolm said. Leo would know better.

"**How—"**

"Most demigods are kicked out of school."Katie said softly. "It is a sad truth."

"Percy is just better at getting expelled than others," Annabeth chuckled.

"**Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. **

"He shouldn't be embarrassed." Poseidon said. "ADHD will keep you alive."

**"What does that have to do with anything?"**

"Everything." Annabeth said quietly.

"**Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, **

"I don't think impulsive is a strong enough word to describe Percy." Thalia laughed.

Every demigod who knew Percy agreed.

**can't sit still in the classroom. **

Leo related to that on a spiritual level.

**That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

_Mortals_ everyone thought.

"**You sound like…you went through the same thing?"**

"You came to camp when you were seven, you barely ever went to school." Clarisse scoffed.

Annabeth glared at Clarisse. She wasn't going to spill her guts, her life was her own, and luckily no one was going to be reading her thoughts. "This book isn't about me. Keep reading."

"**Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and the nectar."**

"**Ambrosia and nectar."**

Hermes snapped for some Ambrosia.

"Share" Zeus declared.

Immediately all the gods were eating.

"**The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned you blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**

"We all feel like that" Piper said. She had been so overwhelmed.

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**

Clarisse groaned, she did not want to read this part.

The older demigods knew what was coming, they were all grinning. Even Chris had a small smile. He had always wondered what really happened.

Jason watched everyone, he was sure that the story was going to be entertaining.

**I** **looked over. The big cabin from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

Ares wondered what happened between his kids and Percy Jackson.

Poseidon watched the daughter of Ares closely. His son hadn't even had training, and he didn't know how to control his powers. This was not good.

"**Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**

"**Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

"HAHA" Thalia laughed.

"_**Erre es korakas!" **_**Annabeth said, which I somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.**

"Annabeth you should watch your language." Athena stated to her daughter.

"Nice one" Hermes said, he liked the threat it was funny.

"I didn't know you had such a dirty mouth" Jason stated.

"Clarisse has a way of getting under peoples skin." Annabeth said.

"I'm sitting right here." Clarisse pointed out.

"And you know you're a pain in the..." Annabeth was going.

"Language" Athena repeated.

"butt" Annabeth finished.

"**You don't stand a chance."**

"**We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. **

Clarisse groaned, she hated this chapter and book so much!

**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

"**Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**

**I blinked. "Like…the war god?"**

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**

"**No," I said, recovering my wits. **

"He has wit?" Thalia questioned.

Clarisse didn't want to read the next line. But everyone was waiting for her.** "It explains the bad smell."**

Poseidon along with everyone else laughed, all but Clarisse and Ares.

"I hate your son!" Ares claimed.

"Feeling is mutual." Annabeth whispered the Thalia.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

"**Percy."**

"**Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**

"**Clarisse—"Annabeth tried to say.**

"**Stay out of it, wise girl."**

"Percy calls you wise girl, right?" Piper questioned, she had over heard her cabin mates talking about it.

Annabeth nodded.

"He insults you!" Athena shouted.

Annabeth shook her head. "No, well yes, but it is a long story, it goes both ways. Never mind, the book with explain it."

Athena was sure she was not going to be satisfied by the answer.

Piper on the other hand was curious.

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. **

Annabeth was surprised. She had wondered if Percy wanted her help.

**I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

"I can respect that" Jason said.

"We all can" Annabeth said fondly.

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**

Ares was smirking at Poseidon. "Looks like my kid is tougher."

"Right, your daughter has been through years of intense training, and is rested, not having battled one of the most difficult and terrifying monsters in all of Greece, and she is fighting my son, who has no training what so ever. No your child is not tougher, she is coward." Poseidon stated.

Clarisse gulped. Poseidon was staring at her, it was terrifying.

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. **

**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. **

Clarisse was reading to slowly, she didn't want to continue the chapter.

It was annoying Annabeth. "o' just give it to me."

Clarisse handed the book over. Chris held her hand. Clarisse wasn't one for comfort, but she was about to be humiliated. She wished she had never picked that fight.

**There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

"Seriously" Leo said.

"Your kid is one of a kind" Apollo laughed.

"He is quite amusing" Hephaestus said.

"I can cur" Artemis agreed.

"He had a point" Katie stated.

The bathrooms had gotten a makeover during the camps redecorating, Percy had insisted on it.

"Even in a fight he makes jokes" Nico had to laugh.

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

"He will learn to control it soon, and the next time..." Poseidon trailed off. He wasn't going to fight his son's battles, but he was going to be sure that Percy could fight them on his own.

"**Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. **

Zeus and Hades chuckled to themselves. Poseidon blasted them with water.

"Boys!" Demeter said, she could see the makings of a fight. At the end of the day, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon were like any other brothers.

**"Yeah, right. Minotaur probable fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

"No, more like he epically kicked his butt" Leo stated.

Jason was slightly jealous. Leo already liked Percy enough to stand up for him. What if he liked Percy better? Could he lose his best friend?

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

"I didn't have my face covered." Annabeth said.

"You did" Clarisse corrected.

"Oh shut up" Annabeth moaned.

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. **

A lot of people felt bad for Percy.

"He is having a bad week" Piper said.

**It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

Annabeth's smirk gave it away. Percy was about do something.

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. **

Poseidon laughed. "Your daughter is about to pay."

Ares groaned, he was not going to hear the end of this.

**I heard plumbing rumble, the pipers shudder. **

Clarisse hid her face. She was not going to like this.

**Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. **

**What shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next think I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

The laughter was immediate.

"Oh my gods" Katie said. "It sounds even better than I imagined."

Leo and Jason both couldn't keep the visual out.

Piper felt bad for Clarisse, but she couldn't help the laughter.

Ares was embarrassed for his daughter. He really didn't like this Jackson kid.

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

People were now laughing even harder, Clarisse didn't think that was possible.

"Alright, I get it!" Clarisse shouted.

It didn't help.

"How many of you have picked a fight with Percy, or accidentally fought him and won?" Clarisse demanded. "How is such a big deal that I lost one time!"

"It's funny because for once you got a taste of your own medicine" Malcolm said. He had been through Clarisse 'introduction ceremony' too. It was not a pleasant memory.

Chris decided to speak up, which was rare. He didn't like rocking the boat. "How many years ago was this? I thought Camp Half-Blood forgave people for their past mistakes. Isn't that what Percy is all about? He forgave a lot worse, trust me."

Leo wondered how this got so serious. "I thought it was just a funny visual."

Clarisse was so touched at Chris defending her. She was used to being the one to defend him. It was nice to have someone in her corner.

Annabeth was happy for Clarisse and Chris the two had brought the best in each other.

"Would you finish the chapter already!" Clarisse shouted.

Annabeth laughed, she was glad Clarisse was still her.

Clarisse motioned for to go faster.

Annabeth returned to the story.

The Gods had watched the reaction their children had. Forgiveness had been brought up, it was clear it was serious. What had to be forgive? Since when was Camp Half-Blood all about forgiving?

**The water stayed on her lie the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

Why was Percy so descriptive? Clarisse pondered. She was so very annoyed.

Thank the Gods Percy is so descriptive, the rest of the crowd thought.

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**

"At least its over" Chris whispered to Clarisse.

"I wish" Clarisse remembered every detail of that night, and there was more to come.

**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back.**

The demigods felt a little sorry for Clarisse. Not enough to stop chuckling, but still a little guilty.

**The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away**

**As soon as they were out of the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**

Poseidon was so proud of his son. He had such control of his power at such an early age. "My boy will make a mighty hero." He was so smug. It really annoyed his brothers.

Zeus was going to insure that both his daughter and son had mastered and utilized all there abilities.

Hades knew that his son had a knack for summoning the dead, but he had to insure that the ghosts showed him all his other abilities, along with a couple lessons from him. He was not going to let his son be at a disadvantage.

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**

"Ohhh, Percy is a dead man" Leo said.

Piper and Jason wondered what Annabeth did to Percy.

"You must have been terrifying" Piper added.

Annabeth smiled, she liked her reputation. It meant no one would be stupid enough to mess with her, which was wise.

"You will see" was Annabeth's cryptic response, then she continued to read as if nothing interesting was going to happen.

**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**

"You were shocked?" Thalia asked.

"He just blew up a bathroom" Annabeth pointed out. "Plus I was worried about you know..."

Percy being a son of Poseidon, everyone thought.

"Wasn't it clear?' Hades asked. He expected more from a daughter of Athena.

"Well, the oath and everything, I thought perhaps a son of Hecate or something like that. I didn't think that any of you would break the oath, after...well after Thalia" Annabeth tried to explain her reasoning.

Hades laughed, he was sure that if he had child, no one would have trouble believing that he broke the oath. Especially if they displayed there powers in such a manner.

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have on drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**

"I wish I had powers like that" Travis said.

"I know just imagine all the pranks" Conner agreed.

"We could blow so much stuff up." Chris added.

"Boys, there are ways" Hermes said while winking.

"Don't give them ideas." Hera said quickly.

"Of course Hera" Hermes said, he winked again.

His sons smiled.

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

**Annabeth said, "How did you…"**

"**I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred.**

**"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**

"Still hate him" Clarisse said**. **No one believed her.

"Just admit it, Percy grew on you" Annabeth said. She could see Clarisse smile a little.

"Please, wise girl. He still an annoying twerp, I'm just not interested in killing him anymore" Coming from Clarisse that was a huge compliment.

**I probably should have let it go, but**

"FYI never does things he should do" Nico stated.

Everyone agreed.

The Gods had gotten the idea. They knew that Percy would need constant attention.

**I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

"Nice one!" Apollo said while laughing.

"Agreed" Artemis stated.

Everyone looked at them.

"We do agree on somethings, insults being one of them" Apollo stated.

"Apollo needs to hear good insults since his own are failures." Artemis said.

"Right, you once compared me to a male model. How is that an insult? I am perfection." Apollo said.

Artemis was about to explain the context of the insult and how it was about how vain Apollo was when Hestia intervened.

"Please let the demigod finish."

Both of them silently agreed to pick up the argument another time.

Annabeth continued to the chapter, she could see it was almost over.

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

Ares would have to talk to his daughter, she better have gotten the little twerp back.

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**

"A little of both" Annabeth said. "But I had far more important thing to focus on."

"**What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**

"**I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"Huh?" Leo said. "I thought you said it was important."

"Capture the flag is important" Will declared. "You are a member Camp Half-Blood?"

"Ya, I just thought Annabeth was going to say something boringly smart as usual." Leo stated.

"Boring?' Annabeth said while raising an eyebrow.

Jason interrupted to spare his friend a lecture "You know I love capture the flag. Will is right it is an awesome game. I bet Annabeth was devising some super amazing strategy."

Leo silently thanked his best friend.

Annabeth nodded. "It was a good strategy."

The gods watched their children interact. It was quite amusing.

Mr. D on the other hand just wanted them to get on with the next chapter. He had things to do.

* * *

Authors' Note;

I hope you guys liked the chapter. I read it over a couple of times, but I probably made some mistakes so sorry.

Anyhow enjoy :))


	8. Chapter 8

"So who's next" Annabeth asked.

Malcolm volunteered, he had no problem reading.

**"My Dinner Goes up in Smoke," **

"I'm hungry!" Leo whined. He felt like it had been ages since he had eaten last.

"So what else is new?" Piper stated.

"We just had breakfast" Katie pointed out. There had been a ton of food.

"Soooooooo" Leo said. "I still want food."

Hephaestus waved his hand, and in front of Leo appeared a snack. That's was what fathers did, right?

"Thanks Dad" Leo said happily.

Hephaestus just grunted in response.

**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.**

Katie remembered how big of deal Percy was. He never realized that he had made the biggest entrance since, Annabeth and Luke. He had defeated a Minotaur by Thalia's tree and then he beat Clarisse. Percy was a big deal.

Will had wanted to see if Percy met the hype he created.

**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**

Annabeth smiled to herself. At the time she had been furious, but now it was a happy memory.

**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords)**

"That place is awesome!" Leo shouted. "I will totally show it to you Dad."

Hephaestus was surprised his son wanted anything to do with him. After all he seemed very...human, but his enthusiasm made the God smile.

**the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), **

"Goat man?" Hermes said. "I think he meant the great god Pan, who happens to be my son."

Annabeth and Thalia felt bad for Hermes, he was going to have to deal with a lot of bad news concerning his sons.

**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**

Jason frowned, he hated that wall. He still hadn't been able to get to the top. Only Leo could, and that was because he was basically immune to fire. Jason hated not being able to do something.

"It's a stupid wall." Clarisse stated.

"We all hate that wall, except for Leo" Annabeth added.

**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**

**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**

**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

Everyone chuckled it was amusing. Ares on the other hand wished his daughter had beaten the stupid kid.

**"Whatever."**

**"It wasn't my fault."**

"Right?" Athena thought out loud. "Annabeth sprayed herself with toilet water."

**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. **

Poseidon chuckled, his son was quite amusing. His thought process was strange.

**I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**

"That's a thing?" Leo asked. "Becoming one with the plumbing."

"Well demigod, I have never heard a son of mine describe it in that particular way, but you do feel a connection to water and by that extension the plumbing." Poseidon clarified.

Leo thought for a moment and exclaimed "COOL!"

**"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**

Apollo was more interested now.

Poseidon on the other hand frowned, his son had just arrived at Camp, it was too early to start consulting the Oracle. Especially with the great prophecy looming.

**"Who?"**

"Rachael." Leo said as if it was obvious.

"Rachael wasn't the first Oracle." Annabeth clarified for Leo.

Apollo was pleased to learn that his Oracle would soon find peace, and receive a new body.

Annabeth realized she gave something away. She needed to be more careful. She hoped the fates understood it was an accident.

**"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**

**I stared into the lake, **

"Percy seems to be attached to you already." Hestia mused

"I'm glad." Poseidon responded.

**wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**

**I wasn't expec****ting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.**

**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**

"They know you have a connection with the sea." Poseidon said. "Naiads are always attracted to children of the sea."

Aphrodite wondered if she decided to give Percy one great love like his name sake or if she chose to set him up with several loves like most heroes.

Annabeth didn't like thinking about how attracted girls were to Percy. She knew that Percy had such a great heart, it was easy to fall in love with him.

**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**

**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**

Thalia couldn't help but chuckle.

Annabeth knew that it wouldn't be long before she began to crush on Percy.

**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**

Jason was surprised at the statement. "You mean that he is able to fight a fury, and then the Minotaur, meet slash insult a God and fight an angry child of Ares, but a pretty girl gets him so overwhelmed that he wants to return home."

Many of the Gods laughed at this.

Thalia laughed. "Let's just say that Percy has many talents, and isn't afraid of anything, but girls. He never has and never will understand them."

"He is just oblivious." Annabeth declared.

"No he is blind." Katie said.

The older campers agreed with Katie. Everyone and they did mean everyone could tell that Percy and Annabeth were crazy about each other.

Jason couldn't help but laugh.

Leo on the other hand wanted to meet Percy, somehow he had gotten good enough with girls to date Annabeth, he wanted to know his secret.

**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**

"Awesome Kids" Leo declared.

Annabeth chuckled, Percy didn't agree.

**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

Leo huffed, he felt somewhat insulted.

"Leo falls under that category, but not the rest of us." Piper stated.

Everyone laughed.

**"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**

**"Half-human and half-what?"**

"Oh my Gods, the boy really is not getting this!" Apollo groaned. Why wouldn't he just accept it?

"He doesn't want to accept it, and let's face it when he does life gets harder for him." Annabeth said.

**"I think you know."**

**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. **

"You can't change the answer by denying it. You must accept it" Athena said.

**I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**

Poseidon smiled happily. "He understands."

**"God," I said. "Half-god."**

**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**

"Yes, yes I am" Poseidon stated. His son was starting to accept who he is.

**"That's ... crazy."**

Or not, perhaps his son needed more time.

**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans**

Hera huffed she was still bitter. She knew that it shouldn't hurt after all these years, but it did.

**and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**

"Not at all." Hera moaned.

Zeus looked away, he felt slightly guilty.

**"But those are just—" I almost said myths again. **

Zeus groaned, he was always the most offended when they were considered myths.

**Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth.**

**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**

**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**

**"Then who's your dad?"**

A sound of indignation came from Athena. She was not a male.

**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**

"Very sensitive" Thalia said.

**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**

Athena remembered that Annabeth had run away, at the time she had assumed it was a rouge monster attack and that she would return home after training. She was sad to learn that wasn't the case.

**"He's human."**

**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**

"I don't think he meant to be sexist." Piper said softly.

Annabeth sighed, she knew Percy didn't mean it that way. She remembered how guarded she used to be.

**"Who's your mom, then?"**

**"Cabin six."**

Thalia laughed "you thought he would understand, it is his first day."

Annabeth just shrugged; "I was annoyed."

"He is annoying." Clarisse said in an understanding tone.

**"Meaning?"**

**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**

Athena was smiling slightly.

**Okay, I thought. Why not?**

**"And my dad?"**

"Lord Poseidon, Earth-shaker, Father of Horses, Storm-bringer," Poseidon stated.

**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**

**"Except my mother. She knew."**

Poseidon smiled to himself. Aphrodite noticed that he was lost in a memory full of love.

**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**

Piper understood why, her father may never have accepted that her mother was a goddess. Learning about the Gods is difficult enough, loving and losing them is even harder.

**"My dad would have. He loved her."**

Poseidon was slightly red. He was not used to having his love life discussed in front of his family.

Hera scoffed at this sentiment. Love, her brother was breaking a sacred marriage vow. To her that was inexcusable. He had a wife that he should be in-love with. No mortal women should have come between that.

**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**

Annabeth was surprised that Percy understood her that quickly. Percy seemed to evaluate people quickly. She was proud.

Many of the demigods were wondering if their immortal parent actually loved their mortal parent.

**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**

Chris hated this part so much.

**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

All the gods shifted uneasily. Piper, Jason and Leo on the other hand were confused. The glanced at Annabeth who simply put her finger to her lips.

Jason realized this was another thing Percy changed. He was beginning to understand that Thalia wasn't exaggerating when she claimed that Percy affected everything.

**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**

Athena looked at her daughter. Annabeth would not make eye contact with her mother. No matter what she could not help feeling bitter.

A lot of the demigods agreed.

"We don't ignore you." Zeus said.

Thalia laughed. "You kind of do Dad."

"Where did you get that shield?" Zeus asked smugly. "We stay out for your way because it is what is best for you."

Thalia glanced at her shield. "Some demigods never get claimed though." Her voice wasn't loud, but soft. It made her accusation hurt more. Thalia was thinking about Luke and his anger. It made her so sad.

Zeus didn't respond. He had no answer to that.

Malcolm just started to read again. He didn't want to have this conversation. It was dangerous, someone might say something about the future, and anger the fates.

**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. **

Chris remembered that all too well. They were the kids that Luke convinced to join his cause first, he had helped Luke then. Many of those kids died in the war.

**I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them.**

Piper knew how that felt. She had a mother who barely talked to her and a father who did shuffle her around.

**But gods should behave better.**

"There are ancient laws." Zeus claimed again, he had to obey them. Demigods did not understand that it was for their own good. If the Gods interfered horrible things could happen. Everything came with a price.

Many of the Gods at the council did try, but...sometimes they just forgot.

**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**

"Unfortunately a child of your power must remain in camp unless completing a quest. It is the safest place." Poseidon stated.

Annabeth on the other hand knew that Percy was the expectation to that rule. He didn't want to be restricted. He went between Camp Half-Blood and the mortal world without too much trouble. There was the occasional destroyed building or natural disaster, but other than that no trouble.

**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force.**

Aphrodite glared at Annabeth. "Really child, do you not understand the power of love. I control your heart, love is the most powerful motivator in the universe. Do you really think that I am not a powerful force? Especially with that much love in your own heart."

Demeter was annoyed at Annabeth. "I am one of the original Olympians, I feed the world, without me all of mankind would starve."

Annabeth was blushing furiously. "I did not mean to underestimate you. I know better now."

The others in the room were surprised by the outburst by the two goddesses. Yet they understood that they were both correct. Underestimating them could prove disastrous.

**The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. **

Annabeth had hated that part. But now she knew that it wasn't that bad. She realized that she never did appreciate the comfort of camp until she no longer had it. Her first quest taught her a lot.

**In the mortal world, we attract monsters. **

"It's because we are so beautiful." Leo said, while posing as a model.

Everyone laughed.

Conner and Travis really liked Leo. He was like them.

**They sense us. They come to challenge us. **

"They lose" Clarisse added.

Thalia high fived Clarisse, they did agree on some things.

**Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**

**"So monsters can't get in here?"**

Annabeth wished that was true. She knew that a hellhound was coming soon.

"Don't worry there are plenty already in camp half-blood." Leo said.

"A lot of them" Katie said, sometimes she was in the wood and she would run it some nasty or weird beast.

"It makes camp more fun." Clarisse said.

"Should I bring in more monsters?" Mr. D asked.

"NO!" Katie shouted.

Annabeth, and Clarisse just shrugged.

Mr. D considered this, but he did not want to inconvenience his own sons.

**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**

**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**

"The Stolls?" Jason asked.

Annabeth nodded.

The Stoll's didn't do that anymore, not after the hell hound incident. Summoning monsters wasn't worth Percy's rath.

Hermes was proud of his Kids though. A prankster's reputation was the best kind.

**"Practical jokes?"**

"I doubt they are that funny." Piper thought out loud. They would probably be dangerous.

**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**

**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**

"A lot of us are." Annabeth said.

**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**

Annabeth absent mindedly played with her necklace, the bead that represented the year Percy arrived.

Jason looked around to see that Annabeth, Travis, Conner, Chris, Clarisse, Katie, Malcolm, Will and even Thalia had their necklaces. He wondered where Nico's was.

**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**

Piper wanted one. It seemed like a great memento.

**"Why did you come so young?"**

Athena wanted to hear the full story as well.

**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**

"Does he always ask such personal questions?" Piper asked.

"Yes, but he usually gets the answers. I was a little guarded at first." Annabeth clarified.

The campers that knew Percy agreed, somehow you spilled your secrets to him.

Poseidon watched the daughter of Athena carefully. Her relationship with Percy really intrigued him, she kept defending him.

**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

"If you are suicidal" Poseidon stated.

**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**

**"Unless?"**

"A quest." Annabeth said.

**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**

Hermes had a feeling this was because of his son's quest.

"I thought you guys always had quests?" Leo asked.

Jason had found the number of quests issued surprising, but then again Camp Jupiter stayed out of the mortal world for the most part, and Camp Half-Blood was always involved.

"Leo all your questions will be answered," Annabeth said. "Just wait."

**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**

**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**

**"Ambrosia."**

Hermes snapped his finger. The Gods glanced at him.

"What I am hungry." Hermes stated. His Cadeuas began to hiss. He snapped his fingers again and dead rats appeared. George and Martha were thoroughly distracted while everyone else became thoroughly disgusted.

**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**

At the mention of the summer solstice, all the Gods paid close attention.

**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"**

**"Well... no. **

"Not surprised." Thalia laughed.

"Does he ever know the answer?" Conner asked.

"I have never seen him know the answer." Travis stated.

"I always have the answer." Annabeth said. Percy didn't need to have the answer.

"So never." Conner said.

The demigods laughed.

Athena frowned lack of intelligence wasn't funny. She didn't realize the demigods were just mocking Percy. Something that they did often.

**Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

The Gods turned to Athena, to fill in the blanks.

Athena really did not like not having the answer.

**She clenched her fists.**

**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."**

**"You've been to Olympus?"**

Clarisse remembered the trip well, it was fun.

Conner and Travis missed out, they had gotten in trouble with Chiron.

**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**

This year was a lot more interesting the Gods thought.

**"But... how did you get there?"**

**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**

**"You are a New Yorker, right?" **

Leo laughed at this statement. "For someone smart you guessed wrong. New Yorkers aren't told this."

"Yah Annabeth as far as most New Yorkers' are concerned the Empire State Building is just the Empire State building." Will mocked.

Annabeth blushed. "I was annoyed ok."

**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**

"Smart move" Thalia said. She knew what arguing with Annabeth lead to.

**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen.**

"What could have been stolen to make those idiots react in this way?" Demeter asked. Her brothers were certainly petty, but even they needed a reason to go to war.

"It better not belong to me" Poseidon stated.

"If someone stole from me they will feel my rath" Zeus declared.

"If anyone is stupid enough to steal from me, well let's just say I like thinking up painful internal tortures." Hades added.

The brothers watched each other closely. Poseidon clutched his Trident tighter, Zeus held his lightning bolt close, and Hades kept his hand on the helm of darkness.

**And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**

Both Ares and Poseidon shrugged. After a few centuries you get used to it.

**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."**

**I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**

Leo understood the feeling.

Jason hoped that Percy wasn't too emotionally overloaded when he arrived at Camp Jupiter, they weren't going to be to kind. Jason knew that they did take pity on people, but he happened to be three years old. Romans were tough not cruel. But Percy was almost 17 they would expect him to be as tough as nails.

**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**

No one pointed out that sounded very childish.

Accept of course her mother. "Annabeth the very fact that you do not understand what a quest means proves you are in-fact to young."

Annabeth said nothing, she realized that in that particular moment she sounded childish, but she did get a quest and she did perfectly fine on it. Annabeth knew what a quest could do to someone, she had seen it in Luke. Annabeth just wanted to prove to him that quests weren't all bad. She wanted to fix Luke. Not that she would ever admit that.

**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. **

"I love the smell of barbecue." Will said.

"Who doesn't" Apollo added.

"Vegetarians." Artemis said.

**Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later.**

**I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**

"I didn't realize that he noticed." Annabeth said in an impressed voice.

Jason wondered why something so little impressed Annabeth.

**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.**

**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. **

"They would be my kids," Hermes said with pride.

"Percy would get along with them then." Thalia said. Her cousin had a knack for trouble.

Hermes smiled, trouble making is a good quality.

**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**

"You were still the newbie." Chris said. "Even if you were somewhat of a celebrity."

**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**

Hermes sighed, he hated that scar.

**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**

Annabeth frowned she had never heard anything about this.

**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**

"I doubt it. I am the God of thieves after all." Hermes said boastfully.

Apollo on the other hand hated that fact. His pride cattle had been stolen because of him.

**I said, "Thanks."**

**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**

"Thalia did he ever tell you about this?" Annabeth asked. Percy never talked to her about Luke. She had assumed he was always horrible to him.

Thalia shook her head.

"Nico?"

Nico looked away from the book "no."

"Why is this important?" Athena asked. The exchange was strange.

Annabeth thought for a moment and came up with an acceptable excuse. "We always wondered were Percy got the idea to steal from the camp store."

Athena moaned. He was a thief too.

The older demigods knew better though.

Conner, Travis and Chris wished they had eavesdropped on this conversation.

**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**

"You better start." Zeus threatened. He didn't particularly like this demigod.

**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**

"He does have a point" Piper said. Annabeth glared at her. She hated when people thought like that. It reminded her of all the pain of the Titian war.

Athena interpreted the glare as her daughter sticking up for the gods.

**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**

Thalia laughed. She had the worst opinion of Luke of anyone. He had betrayed her deeply, she had believed in him, at one point she had even thought he was…it didn't matter to him though.

**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**

Hermes nodded, he was so proud of his favorite son.

**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, **

Annabeth and Thalia wondered if Luke actually thought about. They both came to the same answer; yes.

Piper, Leo and Jason just thought Percy was being paranoid.

**but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**

Hestia could see that some of the demigods were uncomfortable.

**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**

Apollo chuckled "that it is the best description of Hermes I have ever heard."

Hermes didn't smile. "I am much more than that."

**"That's him. Messengers, Medicine, Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**

Hermes was slightly offended. Luke didn't seem to like him.

**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**

Annabeth, Thalia and Nico shared a look. They hadn't realized Percy had interacted with Luke that much.

"He meant to call you a nobody." Chris said quietly.

**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**

**"Once."**

**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**

Hermes was nervous now. His son seemed to hate him.

**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**

Annabeth and Thalia scoffed at that.

Travis and Conner were so annoyed. Luke had been their brother, and he stabbed them in the back.

Chris was just sad.

Hermes thought that he would be able to straighten out there relationship.

Jason, Leo and Piper were glad that they were finally going to learn about Luke, people didn't talk about him either.

**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me.**

No wonder Percy hated him. Annabeth thought bitterly. Luke made him feel like he had a friend, and then tricked him, almost killing him.

Percy already considered Luke a friend.

**But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**

Annabeth sighed, she wished she had given her a better tour.

**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. **

"I am still surprised he was actually a son of the big three." Clarisse said.

"You were right?" Leo asked, he was confused.

"Thalia, Jason, and Nico act like children of the big three, Percy not so much." Clarisse explained.

**Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**

Apollo was very offended. "Prophecies are great."

Will agreed with his dad. "They are so mysterious and confusing. All prophecies are fun."

"They suck!" All the campers who had been involved in a prophecy said together.

**"What do you mean?"**

**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour,**

"Hercules quest?" Jason asked.

Annabeth knew that was the problem.

"Yes" Thalia stated sadly.

"It is a good quest." Hermes defended.

**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. **

"Why?" Athena asked.

"I just wanted to see the world." Annabeth said. She didn't add that she wanted to show Luke that not all quests were bad.

The other demigods could understand wanting to get out and see the world.

**She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. **

"I didn't pester him." Annabeth denied.

"You wouldn't leave him alone." Will said.

"You followed him everywhere," Katie added.

"Annabeth we were there you can't deny it. Chiron never got a break." Malcolm contributed.

"Even I know that you bothered him constantly, Annabelle." Mr. D said.

Annabeth knew that she wasn't going to win this argument.

**He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**

**"Somebody special?"**

Aphrodite knew that somebody special meant that Percy was the one for the quest, but she had a strong feeling that it was something a lot more powerful.

**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**

**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**

"Another one of his powers," Poseidon stated.

"Not very useful." Zeus mocked. "Who cares if he can identify some stupid shell."

Poseidon took out a shell and blew so hard that everyone's ears were ringing. "Now if Percy were here, nothing would be wrong with his hearing. Now is it useful?"

Zeus gave his brother a tiny shock. "There were other ways to make your point, plus that had nothing to do with identifying the shell."

Athena saw that Poseidon was gearing up to blow the shell again. "Father, perhaps the skill could come in handy another time. Who knows, right?"

Zeus noticed the shell in Poseidon's hand and agreed just to prevent another sound.

**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**

**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods—and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**

**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**

Jason, Leo and Piper realized that the Camp had grown significantly. They had a feeling that Percy had something to do with it.

**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**

"He is quite descriptive." Artemis moaned.

Leo, Apollo, Hermes, Will, Clarisse, Annabeth, Thalia, Travis, Conner, Chris even Jason let out a small chuckle.

**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D.**

Dionysus perked up at the mention of his sons, while the older demigods frowned.

**Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**

**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**

**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**

**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**

**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**

**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**

Dionysus whined about his lack of wine. Zeus didn't say anything. Dionysus hated being ignored.

**I said, "Cherry Coke."**

**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**

**Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."**

"Percy loves his blue food," Annabeth said wistfully. She missed her seaweed brain.

**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**

**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**

**I drank a toast to my mother**.

Everyone shared a look of pity. No matter what, the loss of a parent was heart breaking.

**She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**

Hades laughed at the notion.

Poseidon glanced at his brother. "Brother please be careful about what you are thinking, I remind you that you have a son as well."

Hades frowned at the thought. Thalia moved closer to Nico. She was not going to let anything to her cousin.

**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**

"Sounds delicious." Leo said.

"The food is always awesome." Will replied.

**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**

**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**

The demigods laughed.

"Nope" Katie said.

**"Come on," Luke told me.**

**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**

**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**

**"You're kidding."**

"Hey, it smells awesome." Apollo defended.

"Love the smell." Ares agreed.

"Almost as good as ambrosia." Hermes said.

"It is appetizing." Hephaestus stated.

**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**

The mortals realized the strangeness of the statement, while some of the immortals looked confused.

**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**

Hermes smiled.

**I was next.**

**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**

"Poseidon."

**Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**

Poseidon felt guilty. He hoped he that revealed himself soon. Though his sons abilities would make it clear regardless of his declaration.

**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**

**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**

**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**

The Gods smiled at the smell. It was amazing.

**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**

**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh.**

**"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**

Ares smiled smugly. "My kids are the best, just like their dad."

The other gods chuckled at that statement.

**A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.**

"Ugly" Clarisse said. "O' he is going to pay for that one."

**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**

"So getting his name right was a onetime thing?" Piper asked.

"He had never gotten a campers name right, accept for his own kids." Annabeth said.

Mr. D didn't look ashamed at all.

**Chiron murmured something.**

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

"Campfires are awesome" Will said, they were his favorite part of camp.

Jason really liked the campfires, it was so relaxed and fun.

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along.**

"Which songs did you chose?" Apollo asked Will.

Will pulled out his iPod and passed it to his dad. He had a several playlists made for campfires.

Apollo nodded in approval.

**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**

All the campers understood that feeling. Camp had a way of getting to you.

**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**

**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**

"That is so sweet." Aphrodite stated. She liked men who appreciated their mothers.

**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**

**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**

**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**

"That doesn't sound good." Apollo said.

"Of course not Apollo, you don't need to see the future to infer that." Artemis said to her twin.

"That was the end of the chapter." Malcolm said.

"Bathroom break?" Leo asked.

Zeus nodded. "All of you go."

Annabeth showed the demigods to the bathroom. She walked away, and that's when she heard the whispers.

"Annabeth dear"

"Who's there" Annabeth said, as she pulled out her dagger.

"The fates,"

Annabeth was instantly nervous.

"We will forgive your accident reveal of information, but be careful."

Annabeth nodded. "I will be very careful, I promise."

"Good, we hope that your future will be kind."

Annabeth wondered if that meant the fates were on her side. Annabeth walked back to the throne room wondering, if this was the fates way of letting her know something good was going to happen.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys, thanks for all the awesome reviews, it made my day to read them.**

**Anyways I hope u enjoy this chapter **


	9. Chapter 9

The demigods had returned to the chamber room, Annabeth was still shaken, she had no idea what the fates meant, but she knew that she had to be careful.

Malcolm reached for the book, he passed to Will.

Will was surprised that Malcolm had chosen him, but he opened the book to read.

The Gods watched intently, it seemed the action was increasing.

**We Capture a Flag,**

**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**

Piper thought it was still strange.

"You eventually get used to it." Katie said, she could tell the Piper was still uncomfortable by the look on her face.

**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.**

"How is that strange? We are sitting right here." Apollo mentioned.

No demigod said anything, they were afraid to offend the Gods.

**I discovered Annabeth was right**

"She will always say she is right." Thalia laughed.

Annabeth agreed with her friend.

**about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English.**

Jason sighed, he was still having trouble with Ancient Greek, Latin was still a lot easier.

**After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**

"Lucky" Travis said, his head always hurt.

"Ya, Homer always gives me a headache." Conner said.

"That's not because you can't read, it's because you don't like too." Malcolm explained.

**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at.**

**Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to de-snag a stray arrow out of his tail.**

"Well I have to Will deal with that." Apollo stated, he hated when demigods weren't good at archery.

"Dad, Percy is beyond hopeless." Will said.

Apollo considered the idea of helping Percy himself, maybe he could teach him.

"Thalia why don't you help him?" Artemis asked, her huntress were all gifted with a bow as well.

Thalia laughed "because Will is right, Percy can't be helped."

Artemis and Apollo wondered which one of them would correct this mistake.

**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods. **

"Lovesick" Zeus shouted.

"Why would you want to run away from me?" Apollo wondered.

"We aren't lovesick" Zeus shouted once more.

Hera chuckled, "then are you pathetic?"

Zeus glared at his wife.

Will decided to keep reading.

**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**

"It really is." Jason moaned. All the demigods agreed.

"Has anyone ever beaten the nymphs?" Leo asked.

All the older demigods said in unison, "no"

**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**

**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**

"FYI Clarisse has never beaten him in a sword fight." Annabeth claimed with pride in her voice.

Clarisse was annoyed. "I kick his butt in wrestling."

No one cared.

**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**

"He needs to stop being so tough on himself." Katie stated.

Jason understood that feeling very well.

**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it.**

"Wasn't it obvious?" Piper asked, he flooded the toilet.

Annabeth blushed it was really was obvious. "It was the oath ok. We didn't think...after Thalia...it was harder than it sounds."

Hades huffed, his brothers broke the oath and people held onto denial. But God forbid someone believe that he honored the oath.

**I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or-gods forbid- Dionysus's way with vine plants.**

"You don't want to be there kid." Poseidon huffed. "You should be glad, your talents are a lot better."

Hephaestus and Dionysus glared at Poseidon.

Annabeth, Thalia and Nico had to agree.

**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none.**

"Excuse me, did he just say master of none?" Hermes asked.

No one defended Luke. Hermes moaned.

Conner, Travis and Chris were somewhat insulted too.

**But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either.**

"Percy had such a good opinion of Luke." Annabeth said bitterly.

**Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile.**

All the demigods were jealous. Poseidon seemed to care about Percy enough to break ancient laws.

Poseidon smiled at the memory.

**I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back...**

Nico finally understood why Percy figured out how he felt like when Bianca died.

Hades laughed at the idea.

**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes. So okay, maybe gods had important things to do.**

Annabeth was stuck on the part where he said he understood Luke's bitterness. Annabeth had thought that Percy never tried to understand Luke.

"We do have important things to do." Zeus said quietly.

**But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something?**

Everyone glanced at Zeus the thunder comment would have been funny, if Zeus hadn't looked so annoyed.

**Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**

The Gods kept getting more uncomfortable by the moment, they were beginning to understand why the fates left them these books.

**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Every-body from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**

**Hermes wondered what kind of teacher Luke was.**

Katie, Clarisse, Nico, Will and Malcolm had heard a lot about the first sword fighting class, they were interested to hear about.

**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**

**The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**

"That is a major problem." Poseidon said in worried tone. A balanced sword was vital. He hoped that Chiron would give him riptide.

Jason also understood, some swordsman were very particular, like he was. And he knew without a balanced sword he was nowhere as good.

**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**

Annabeth couldn't believe that Luke wanted to do that, he would crush Percy, Luke never went easy on anyone. Annabeth wondered why she didn't see how drastically Luke changed.

**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**

Hermes beamed with pride. He noticed that Conner and Travis seemed annoyed. Perhaps it was sibling rivalry.

Chris looked up, "that was me."

**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**

"Luke has never gone easy on anyone ever." Thalia said.

Conner and Travis snorted.

**The camper snorted.**

**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!**

**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same.**

Things were about to get interesting.

**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**

Jason, Thalia and Nico sighed. They wished they had similar powers.

**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**

**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**

"That never happens" Annabeth huffed. "Only when I fight him, he can't beat me."

**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag.**

Hermes knew that siblings didn't always get along, but seriously.

Conner Travis, and Chris agreed, Luke used everyone as punching bags, to prove that he was the best. It was so annoying.

**He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**

**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique. "**

"What exactly is the technique?" Leo asked. He wasn't very good at remembering how to do sword fighting moves. He needed to hear it again.

Annabeth asked Jason and Nico to take out their swords.

She took Jason's and asked Nico to hold his sword still.

"Hit the base of your opponent's sword" Annabeth demonstrated. Carefully, this was a very difficult move, she preferred her dagger. "And twist while putting your whole weight into a downward thrust, thus disarming your opponent."

Annabeth returned the swords to their rightful owners, Leo thought that he would never be able to pull off a move like that in real life.

"He starts Percy off with one of the most difficult moves in sword fighting." Thalia hissed. "That's so stupid."

Jason had to agree, not even the Romans were that tough.

**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the sword clattered out of my hand.**

"Why would he them such a difficult move?" Athena asked.

He hates him, that's why. Annabeth thought in her head.

No one answered, it would give too much away.

**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**

**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up.**

Poseidon smiled, his son was going to be a great warrior.

**I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force**.

Annabeth, Thalia and Nico glanced at each other, Luke had been so obvious.

Everyone else was impressed by Percy abilities.

**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. **

"Balance always gets you in the end." Jason said sadly.

**I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**

**I tried the disarming maneuver.**

The Gods thought it wouldn't work, except for Athena and Poseidon.

**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**

**Clang.**

Jason was speechless.

All the other demigods were so proud.

**Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**

"Maybe there is hope for the kid after all." Ares stated.

**The other campers were silent.**

**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**

"Why on earth would he apologize?" Jason asked. Leo and Piper agreed.

The demigods that knew Percy laughed.

"Percy is weird that way." Thalia stated.

**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**

Chris, Travis and Conner remembered this moment too, it was amazing.

Chris couldn't believe someone actually beat Luke, it never happened once. Even when Luke was new at camp, he was already an experienced fighter.

Conner and Travis were glad someone took Luke down a peg.

**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**

**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**

**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**

**After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**

"I didn't know beginner's luck lasted for years" Annabeth considered out loud.

**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword..."**

"Damage" Nico said in a dark voice.

Hades was beginning to hear the family resemblance. He wondered if that made Nico's life harder.

**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall.**

"I hate that wall." Everyone but Leo complained.

Mr. D was going to insure that the wall remained at camp.

**Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been signed off my forearms. We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**

**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**

Mr. D was proud of the way Grover responded to his name.

**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**

**"So your career's still on track?"**

**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**

**"Well... No."**

**I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.**

"He is a kind boy." Hestia thought out loud.

No one disagreed. It made it harder for some people cough Ares, Zeus, Athena, and Hades cough to hate him. Not that they gave up.

Annabeth smiled at Grover and Percy, she knew that Grover missed Percy like crazy.

**"He just said you had big plans, you know ... And that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

**Grover looked down at the naiads.**

**"Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**

**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

Mr. D laughed, "It's horrible."

**"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... And even if you did, why would you want me along?"**

"I'm guessing that Percy wants him along." Piper said. Percy seemed to be pretty predictable.

**"Of course I'd want you along!"**

Athena was the only one who saw this as a negative, being predictable made you more vulnerable.

**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving ... Must be nice to have a useful skill."**

**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods.**

"I wonder why that conversation is not recorded." Athena said.

"I wanted to hear it too" Apollo said.

"I would win" Zeus claimed.

"I would brother, he is my son." Poseidon responded.

"He doesn't know that yet, anyhow I am just better." Zeus waved off.

Poseidon laughed. "The only thing you are good at is having a big head full of hot air."

"You are just jealous, air disasters are better than sea disasters proving that I am superior." Zeus used his age old argument.

The other gods were bored, they had heard this argument a million times.

"Sea disasters are three times the size of air disasters!" Poseidon exclaimed.

"Bigger doesn't mean better." Zeus shouted.

"Just more powerful." Poseidon responded.

"At least..." Zeus was beginning.

"Brothers enough." Hestia stated. "Please returns to the book."

Poseidon and Zeus didn't want to fight in front of their sister so they backed off for now.

"It was probably excluded to prevent world war three." Annabeth whispered to Thalia.

**Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**

**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever.**

**So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**

"That Cabin is useful, the hunters always stay there." Thalia muttered, she didn't like the way Grover made the cabin sound useless.

Artemis agreed with her.

**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?**

Hades laughed bitterly, since when was his family ever considerate towards his children.

Nico wondered what his Dad would think when he found out a Son of Poseidon got him a cabin at camp. The same demigod that beat him in a fight.

**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject. "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**

"I honored my vow, something my family cannot seem to do." Hera said.

**That's her husband's job.**

Zeus was going to kill that Satyr.

**When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."**

All the Olympians expressions darkened at the mention of Kronos.

**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

**"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**

**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**

**"Uh-huh."**

**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**

Hades looked at Nico apologetically.

"Where do you stay Son?" Hades asked curiously. Perhaps Chiron allowed him to stay at the big house.

Mr. D looked curiously towards the Son of Hades, he wondered what he did to the boy when he arrived at camp.

Nico looked uncomfortable, he didn't want to spoil the surprise for his Dad, but what was he supposed to say. Thankfully Annabeth interested.

"Percy helped him with arrangements."

Nico nodded. "Percy was the first person to make me feel at home at Camp Half-Blood."

Hades was surprised to say the least. He had never imagined that a child of Poseidon would ever show his son such kindness.

**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**

"HEY!" Nico yelled. "Camp is perfectly fine when I am there."

Annabeth chuckled. "Except for that earthquake slash huge crack."

"That was you?" Leo asked utterly surprised.

Nico looked a little embarrassed. "I didn't know my own strength ok."

"Impressive." Leo said. Nico was a little taken back by the compliment, he wasn't used to them.

"Thanks."

**"But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths.**

The brothers seemed a little embarrassed, Hera felt some satisfaction in that.

**Why are their cabins empty?"**

**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes.**

"That didn't work out very well." Leo thought out loud. He received many glares for that.

"I honored my vow." Hades stated smugly.

Poseidon and Zeus hated being upstaged by their brother.

**Their children were just too powerful. **

Thalia, Jason and Nico were now looking very smug.

**They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**

**Thunder boomed.**

**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**

"Yes" Both Hades and Nico stated.

**Grover nodded.**

**"And the brothers kept their word-no kids?"**

"You are living proof that they didn't" Demeter said.

"He didn't know that yet," Annabeth defended her boyfriend.

**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**

Zeus looked anywhere but his wife and daughter.

**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo-he just couldn't help himself.**

"Twice" Hera muttered while glaring at Thalia and Jason.

All the others were surprised that Zeus had such a long attention span.

**When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia... Well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**

"Daughter I never meant for that to happen." Zeus said sadly. He knew that his daughter's life was much tougher than her brothers.

Thalia didn't look at her father, she may not hate him, but that didn't mean that she was completely forgiving.

Jason wished he could have shared the burden with Thalia, but compared to her life, his was much easier.

**"But that isn't fair. It wasn't the little girl's fault."**

Thalia smiled slightly, Percy didn't even know her and he was already on her side.

**Grover hesitated. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia.**

Thalia glared at the Lord of the Dead, it was clear she was imagining terrible things.

"Sorry kid, it was nothing personal." Hades claimed.

"It didn't make it right, I never did anything to you! To any of you!" Thalia exclaimed.

"You may hate me, but look at how your father is acting towards the child of Poseidon, I did nothing that is out of the ordinary." Hades said defending himself.

"Will please just read. FYI Lord Poseidon is the only one who hasn't tried to kill other people's kids." Thalia said knew it was hopeless to hold onto her anger. She didn't want to hold on for so long that it turned into bitterness like Luke's did.

Hades and Zeus looked a little ashamed, while Will continued to read.

Poseidon was glad to regain the moral high ground.

**A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended.**

Annabeth held onto Thalia's hand.

**They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**

Thalia looked down, this was one of the worst memories she had.

**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds.**

Nico was glaring at his father. Hades looked away ashamed.

Jason looked pained as well. He couldn't believe that this was his sisters' life. He was worried about gaining rank and power at Camp Jupiter while his sister was fighting to survive.

**They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal.**

Thalia swallowed her emotions. She had made the right decision.

**The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her.**

"I never wanted your pity." Thalia exclaimed. "I was ready to die!"

Zeus was shocked. He had meant to do something good for his daughter. He never thought it made her hate him even more.

Annabeth on the other hand was close to tears. "You told me that you were going to fight, not that you were ready to die." Her mind was full of memories of that night.

Thalia smiled at her friend. "You were so young, Annabeth I did fight, I was just tired. I knew that I would never be free as long as I was the child of the prophecy. I don't know how Percy did it."

Annabeth held back her tears. "I am still sorry, me and Luke should have stayed with you."

Thalia sighed, she had wondered about that too. "If that was meant to happen it would have, the past is the past forget it."

Athena and Zeus looked at their daughters sadly.

Will decided to continue to read he felt that no one had the right to question about what was clearly a private conversation.

**He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**

"You are a brave maiden." Artemis said.

Thalia smiled at the compliment. She wanted Artemis's approval above all others.

The other Gods agreed.

Jason wondered if that was why it was his favorite spot at Camp, the connection to his sister.

"If it is any consolation, you would have made it to Elysium." Hades said.

Thalia shrugged. "I guess" she didn't feel like unburdening Hades conscious.

**I stared at the pine in the distance.**

**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends.**

"Of course Percy would feel guilty," Thalia laughed, she was still a little chocked up, but she was couldn't believe Percy.

**She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much.**

Annabeth smiled at Percy's thoughts. "He was never satisfied with his victories, always thinking he could do better."

Jason realized he had more in common with Percy than he originally thought.

**I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**

"It wasn't your fault." Poseidon said, while glaring at his brothers. "It was theirs."

**"Grover," I said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

"Please tell me he gives up this ridiculous notion." Poseidon asked.

Annabeth sighed, Percy spent more time in Hades than any other hero, besides Hades own kids.

**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**

Hades remembered all those heroes. "They all failed." He was really proud that he bested all those mighty heroes.

Nico laughed, Percy and Annabeth were about to break that streak.

**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

**"No and no one ever will."**

Nico looked away from his father, he was thinking about Hazel. He was going to be in so much trouble. He wondered what he punishment was for sneaking your dead sister out of the underworld. He thought it might be a little more than being grounded.

**"No. Never. Orpheus came close... Percy, you're not seriously thinking-"**

**"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So ... A satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**

"He shouldn't have judged me so much." Nico huffed.

"Percy didn't know better and he was considering doing what you were." Annabeth said. Percy wasn't going around scheming with ghost kings.

Nico pouted like a little kid. Annabeth sighed; it was hard to forget that Nico was still young.

"Percy was just trying to help, and you did the right think in the end." Annabeth said.

Nico nodded, he felt a little better.

**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they could cause really huge problems."**

**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**

"Is Grover trying to give him a big head?" Thalia asked.

**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. ****"I didn't... Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were-you know-you'd never ever be allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge.**

The Gods laughed out loud.

"Moronic Satyr." Mr. D said.

"Nemesis is the Goddess of Balance." Athena corrected.

**Don't worry, okay?"**

**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**

"Observant child." Aphrodite noticed.

Annabeth laughed, she was going to think very differently soon. Percy missed every single sign of love in his life.

**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**

**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**

Ares was glad that there was finally some action. Capture the Flag could get pretty bloody.

Clarisse hated this book more and more.

**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**

**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.**

Malcolm and Annabeth smiled at each other, while Athena nodded approvingly at her children.

**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**

Athena and Ares hoped that their children won, they couldn't deal with the humiliation of losing.

**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**

**"Not always," he said. "But often."**

Ares and Athena looked smug about his.

**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do- repaint the flag?"**

**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**

**"Whose side are we on?"**

**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.**

"He could see it all along." Annabeth whispered to Thalia.

"Wish we had." Was her response.

**"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."**

**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**

Apollo looked more interested at the mention of his kids.

**Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.**

"Apollo and Hermes always get the best favours," Katie said in a annoyed tone, "They are always the biggest cabins." No one ever tried to convince the Demeter Cabin to join them.

**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.**

"Pollux and Castor," Dionysus said, it was the first time he looked proud.

Rest in Peace Castor, Annabeth, Thalia and Nico all thought.

**Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.**

Demeter was proud that her children had great nature skills. She expected only the best from her kids.

**Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.**

Piper blushed, feeling embarrassed for her siblings.

"They weren't all like that Piper." Annabeth said remembering Silena she was as brave and as a great a warrior as anyone.

Piper was looking forward to the next capture the flag game, she was going to show the others how scary Aphrodite kids could be.

**Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**

Hephaestus smiled at the description of his kids.

Leo was glad the Hephaestus cabin was considered a threat.

**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**

Ares wanted to beat the kid to a pulp. But then again he didn't get involved with his kids lives.

Clarisse couldn't wait to find Percy, she was going to pound him into the ground.

**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**

**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed.**

**The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed.**

Ares wished that wasn't a rule. The game would have been more interesting if people were dying.

**I will serve as referee and battlefield medic.**

**Arm yourselves!"**

**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxide shields coated in metal.**

**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use these?"**

"No duh" Apollo stated.

**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five.**

"Does the Ares Cabin really have it out for him?" Jason asked.

Annabeth nodded.

Jason felt he could relate to inner camp rivalries. He had a feeling he had been a part of lot of them.

**Here-Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**

**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast.**

**My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**

**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**

**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**

**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."**

**She kept marching.**

"Oh silent treatment, you are making him work for it." Aphrodite joked.

Annabeth blushed, truthfully she was feeling worried about her plan. She didn't want Lord Poseidon to hate her.

**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**

**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.**

Hermes smiled at that fact. The girl must have thought his children had a positive influence on Percy.

**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares.**

Ares laughed at that.

**Has Luke given you your job?"**

**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**

**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."**

"He didn't like the plan." Thalia said jokingly. Percy and everyone else at Camp had told her the story.

Athena was glad that her daughter was proud.

"I realize that it may not have been the nicest plan, but it worked." Annabeth said trying to defend herself.

**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**

**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**

Annabeth felt guilty, Percy really hadn't done anything that deserved being treated so badly. But he was making her feel things that scared her.

**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view.**

"I love nights like that" Katie said softly.

"Camp can be really beautiful." Piper agreed.

**Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**

**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot. The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong.**

Poseidon became worried. Why was his son alone, why wouldn't Chiron just give him riptide already!

**The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**

**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**

The Olympians glanced at each other.

"I doubt we have liability issues, who is going to sue a God." Apollo said.

Artemis began to consider suing her brother for emotion damages. Being in his presence messed with her head.

**Far away, the conch horn blew.**

**I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.**

**Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**

Hestia laughed at the boys' definition of fun.

**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**

Piper couldn't believe the number of monsters that seemed to follow the guy around.

**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.**

Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.

**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**

Ares smiled, he was so proud of his kids.

**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**

"The girl has a good attitude." Ares said in appreciation.

Clarisse smiled to herself, she loved the compliment.

**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet.**

Clarisse growled.

**She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light.**

Ares realized that he had given a child of his a gift, he was surprised.

**Her siblings had only the standard-issue bronze swords-not that that made me feel any better.**

**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**

"He had terrible luck." Jason said out loud.

Poseidon had to agree, it made him feel horrible.

**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur.**

Annabeth laughed at that comment.

Jason, Piper and Leo were still weirded out seeing Annabeth laugh.

**They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb, and the air burned.**

Thalia and Nico wanted revenge now. 5 on 1 was so unfair, Percy would never have done that.

**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.**

"Electricity is great," Zeus huffed.

"Not if you are my son." Poseidon retorted.

**I fell back.**

**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**

The demigods felt bad for Percy.

**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**

**"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."**

Ares laughed.

Everyone else was glaring at Clarisse.

**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**

Poseidon was having a difficult time hearing this. He hoped his son got payback.

**"Oh, wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**

"You should be!" Annabeth yelled.

**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid it didn't come out that way.**

**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**

"Like you need any help!" Thalia claimed.

**"You do that without my help," I told them.**

Thalia wasn't embarrassed, she knew that she and Percy did see eye to eye on some things.

**It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**

"That never stops him," Annabeth laughed.

**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shish-ke-babbed.**

**As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabin mates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**

**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy-warm and cold at the same time.**

"I know the feeling." Leo agreed, he hated the sight of his own blood.

**"No maiming," I managed to say.**

**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege**."

The gods glared at Mr. D.

"I will think of better punishments." He said. Honestly he hadn't cared if the demigods had killed each other off.

**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die.**

"This is when I sneaked up." Annabeth said.

Jason, Piper and Leo nodded; thinking that was how Percy got out of the predicament.

**But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans.**

"Lucky" Leo moaned.

Clarisse sighed, she hated this part.

**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**

"Whoa"

"Ha!" Poseidon shouted at Ares.

Ares had pretty smug but now he was pouting.

Will, Malcolm, and Katie couldn't wait to till it was Clarisse's turn.

**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me.**

Almost everyone laughed.

**I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick. Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack,**

Ares growled; his children should never back away.

**but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy.**

Ares nodded at his daughters actions, she had potential.

**As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**

The demigods cheered; along with a few Gods.

Clarisse was annoyed.

**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**

**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**

Everyone but Ares, Clarisse and Chris let out a slight chuckle, none of them particularly liked bullies.

**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.**

**The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**

**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**

Athena was proud of the plan. While Poseidon was beginning to dislike the daughter of Athena. His son had been nothing but nice to her, and yet she used him like bait.

**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven.**

Annabeth regretted letting Luke get the flag instead of her.

Hermes was proud of his kids.

Piper was determined to win the next Capture the Flag game, to prove to everyone that the Aphrodite cabin could do more than stare at their reflections.

**Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**

**The game was over. We'd won.**

**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**

"A lot better than not bad." Leo said.

Annabeth just shrugged; she never used to compliment people.

**I looked, but she wasn't there.**

**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**

**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the fact that she'd just been invisible. **

"I would be fazed by that." Leo pointed out.

**"You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**

"I can't believe Percy put two and two together." Nico stated.

Annabeth laughed.

**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."**

**"A plan to get me pulverized."**

Poseidon agreed with his son. You should never endanger your own teammate.

**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but ..." She shrugged. "You didn't need help."**

Annabeth was proud that she didn't need to help.

**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**

**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**

"Kind of obvious Annabeth." Leo teased.

Annabeth didn't bother to respond.

**"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it."**

**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**

"Seriously." Leo complained. "I want powers like that."

All the demigods agreed.

Poseidon smiled with pride at his sons inherited powers. It was just better to be his kid.

**"I-I don't get it," I said.**

"Obviously you are my son." Poseidon said.

"But Percy thought you couldn't have kids, that was why everyone was so confused." Annabeth clarified. She wanted to defend not only Percy but herself, she had always felt stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

**Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**

**"What-"**

**"Just do it."**

**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**

**"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want ...I assumed it would be Zeus..."**

"Excuse me, why did it have to be me?" Zeus asked in an annoyed tone.

Thalia interrupted. "You broke the oath not once but twice, I am evidence of that and so is Jason. It was the only clear option. Everyone thought you believed yourself above the rules."

"I am not the only one." Zeus said trying to defend himself against his daughters judgement.

"At least Poseidon broke the oath for love, not lust." Thalia retorted angrily. She knew her father never loved her mother, it had driven her mother off the edge, twice.

Poseidon was shocked that his niece was defending him, as was everyone else.

Hera didn't know whether to be happy that Zeus never loved her, or be angrier that he broke her heart for the millionth time over lust.

**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**

Hades wished he could put on his helm and vanish. Things were about to get ugly for him.

**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"**

**Annabeth drew her sword.**

"I thought you carried a knife?" Jason asked.

"Percy must have seen wrong, it is easy to mix up a knife and a sword." Annabeth said.

The three new demigods found it strange to see Annabeth be so nice.

**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**

Hellhound really Poseidon thought. He hated his dysfunctional family.

**It was looking straight at me.**

Thalia covered Nico, just because her Uncle hadn't attacked them before didn't mean that he couldn't change.

**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled, "Percy, run!"**

"He just fought 5 campers, he would be way to tired for a real fight or even to run." Jason thought sadly. He knew he would have been.

**She tried to step in front of me,**

Poseidon forgave Annabeth for her plan, she would have defended his son, even though it was clear that he was his son.

**but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor,**

Everyone flinched.

**there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hounds neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**

Chiron Poseidon thought, he deserved a thank you.

**By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second, and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**

"Percy has one strange mind when faced with death." Leo said.

"No duh" Was Annabeth's response.

**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**

**"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... They're not supposed to..."**

**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**

Jason hated the idea of a spy.

The older campers were thinking of bad memories involving the word spy.

**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**

**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**

"Your children are so petty." Hephaestus said to his brother.

He just grunted in response.

**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**

"You tell her!" Leo cheered.

"Tell her what?" Clarisse asked.

"Absolutely nothing, did I tell you that you are the best person ever" Leo said quickly.

**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**

**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**

**"I'm okay."**

"He should stop trying to be a hero." Annabeth moaned.

Another thing Jason could relate to. Always trying to be tough, even when you are broken inside.

**"No, you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**

**I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**

**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**

**"Look, I-I don't know why," I said, trying to apologize. "I'm sorry..."**

"Why does Percy apologize for everything?" Leo asked.

Thalia, Nico and Annabeth shared a look. "He is Percy." was the best answer they had.

**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**

"I'm claiming him." Poseidon said happily.

"We figured that out." Athena stated annoyed at all the interruptions.

**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um..."**

**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**

**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."**

Poseidon didn't know whether or not to be offended.

"I meant because of the prophecy and the revelry with my mom." Annabeth said quickly. "It was nothing personal."

Poseidon decided to let it go.

**"It is determined," Chiron announced.**

**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**

**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**

Jason understood feeling weird when your father claimed you. He hated the kneeling it was weird.

**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."**

"That was dramatic" Artemis moaned.

Poseidon on the other hand thought it was fitting.

"I would like to continue if that is alright?" Jason asked his curiosity was getting the better of him.

Honestly all the Gods were on the edge of their seats.

"I volunteer to read next" Athena stated.

No one objected. Just as she was about to begin reading another light flashed.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Thanks for all the reviews :) Hope u guys like this chapter **

**One thing school is starting this week, which is my #1 priority, I also work so updates will take a lot longer sorry guys**


	10. Chapter 10

Percy had been feeling very annoyed. His life was a big gaping hole. All he remembered about the last 16 years of his life was Annabeth. He had vague feelings of a home, and important people, but nothing concrete. It was driving him mad. It would drive you mad too.

He had begun a journey to try and get his life back. At the wolf house, he was told that he could get his life back if he made it to camp. Percy had a vague notion that he had come from a camp, it was his home. Percy believed that he would find Annabeth there, so he went.

Sounds simple enough right, wrong.

Thanks to the fact that he was the son of an ancient Roman God, he was hounded by monsters.

They all thought he was an easy target, but they were all surprised. Percy couldn't remember learning to sword fight, but he was good at it. It felt like second nature. Plus he had iron skin, like nothing could penetrate it. Which came in handy.

Lupa had told him that he had to go west. That hadn't sounded right. He felt like he didn't belong in the west, but he had no memory of why, so he trusted the wolf. Percy felt like she was on his side.

Percy was making his way through a light wooded area somewhere in the Midwest.

Percy heard the crunching of leaves. Great another monster, just what he needed today. He had just taken care of some weird flying birds. No idea what they were, but they had wanted to kill him anyways.

Percy turned around to see some Cyclops's. Wait...what... Cyclops's were supposed to be good, right? What was going on?

"Lookie what we have here, guys?" Ugly one said to ugly two and three.

Percy held onto his pen, which somehow turned into a mystical sword, it was one of the many things he did not understand.

"Look I am telling you right now, you don't want to mess with me." Percy said confidently. He was sure that he would win the fight, but for some reason he didn't want to hurt Cyclopes, he had this vague memory that he liked Cyclopes.

"Right, because you are so special, demigod." Ugly two laughed.

"I am not special, but I can beat you. Plus I have a name, its Percy Jackson." It was the first time he had told a monster his name.

Percy had not expected the monsters to respond to his name.

"Wait you mean the Percy Jackson?" Ugly three asked.

Percy was confused. "Um...my name is Percy Jackson."

"From Camp Half-Blood?"

Camp Half-Blood, the name sent Percy reeling back. He almost stumbled. He could see a strawberry field and Annabeth's face more vividly than ever.

Percy pulled out his sword and demanded desperately. "WHERE IS CAMP HALF-BLOOD?!"

The Cyclopes didn't look so friendly anymore. They didn't see this as desperate, but as a challenge.

All three charged at Percy, but this didn't scare him. Percy slashed and diced two of the Cyclopes easily.

Ugly Three wanted to back away.

"I wouldn't" Percy said. "Please just tell me where Camp Half-Blood is and I will leave you alone."

Ugly Three considered it

Ugly Three was so confused, this was definitely Percy Jackson, he fought like a hurricane. After two seconds of thinking he decided to tell him everything. He didn't want to go back to Tartarus, it was a horrible place.

"Camp Half-Blood, its somewhere in New York, monster don't exactly know where."

Percy's mind was rushing, memories started to fill his mind. The clatter of swords, cabins, a pristine lake.

"Do you know Annabeth?" Percy took a chance and asked.

"Sure, you two are terrors, always messing with us monsters. That Chase girl sure loves her dagger." Ugly Three had lost a good friend to her. He wasn't going to forget her anytime soon.

Percy had a clear image of Annabeth, Annabeth Chase, holding a dagger she was killing a monster, but somehow still looked so perfect.

"Tell me everything you know about me!" Percy demanded.

"Um...your name is Percy Jackson...son of an annoying Greek god."

Greek not Roman, he had been told he was the son of Neptune, but it had never felt just right. Percy had believed that he came from the sea, but in his heart he had felt...wrong. "Poseidon, I am the Son of Poseidon."

Ugly Three shrugged. "Whatever, you kill too many monsters, which is also annoying, by the way Medusa's sisters are looking for you."

Percy had a vivid flashback to cutting of some old hags head. With a flying goat, no...not a flying goat, it was...GROVER his best friend.

Ugly Three noticed that Percy wasn't looking so good. That made him happy. Maybe if he kept talking he could get out of there.

"The big thing is you kicked Kronos's butt, and I don't know, everyone on Olympus either hates or loves you."

At the mention of Kronos, Percy's mind flooded everything was a ray of flashbacks nothing made sense.

Percy felt sick, he wanted to double over and vomit or something.

Hera could feel a disturbance. She had been hiding out, away from Zeus, he was too suspicious. And he would be watching her closely. The old fool still didn't see that she knew best.

Hera had gone to painstaking lengths to remove Percy Jackson's memories, he had been so stubborn, trying to hold onto the memories of his loved ones. It was the reason that Hera choose to put him to sleep, she was afraid that if Percy had too much time, he would search out Camp Half-Blood, without doing the work he needed too.

Hera saw Percy, and instantly knew that the sea spawn had somehow regained part of his memory. She saw a Cyclops running away. Damn those loose lipped monsters to Hades. He must have told Percy too much.

Overhead thunder clouds began to form, Zeus was looking for her.

Hera was running out of time and ideas, she would just send Percy back in time as well, and then try again soon. His mind was too delicate to erase his memories again, it might give him more brain damage, and he couldn't afford that.

In the throne room, there was a flash.

Percy landed on the floor with a huge thud. His head was spinning.

Everyone else was so confused. All except for Annabeth. Her heart stopped...that was Percy.

She ran forward, Percy just stood up when Annabeth jumped on him, which made him lose his balance and fall to the floor again.

Percy looked up, he saw those perfect grey eyes, and he knew exactly who it was. "Annabeth"

He remembers me! Annabeth had expected that Percy would be like Jason: unable to remember anything.

"Wait...you remember me?" Annabeth questioned, then why hadn't he come looking for her.

"I couldn't forget you." Percy said, the same could not be said for everyone else.

"Where in the name of Hades have you been?!" Annabeth yelled.

Everyone watched this exchange. Almost everyone was confused.

"Umm...I don't know." Percy said, "I wasn't even sure who I was until a couple minutes ago and then there was a flash and here I am."

Annabeth stood up, Percy did something completely impulsive he pulled Annabeth close and kissed her. It just felt right.

Annabeth leaned into the kiss, she had missed him so much, so much. It had felt like the most important piece of her was missing.

Athena sighed, every hope that Percy was just a good friend vanished.

Poseidon was still surprised at the relationship between his son, who had just appeared and Annabeth. This was not something he ever thought would happen.

Aphrodite was swooning at how romantic the kiss was. This was definitely a couple who would get her attention.

Jason, Piper and Leo kind of wanted to meet Percy. Jason wanted to know if he had been to Camp Jupiter, was everyone ok? Did they miss him?

Zeus was annoyed. "Alright enough!"

Percy could hear him, but didn't care, Annabeth on the other hand, had seen how irritable Zeus had been. She didn't want him to blast Percy, so she pulled away, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.

The kiss had cleared Percy's head, and then the moment was over, his head rushed again.

The faces in the crowd all looked familiar, except for the three.

It was so overwhelming that Percy almost doubled over, if not for Annabeth holding him up.

"His memories are flooding back." Jason said, he remembered that look. It was an awful feeling.

Poseidon moved forward, this was his son, his responsibility. Percy could barely see, but he felt a man that smelled of the sea hold him up. He was sure that this was his father.

Poseidon pulled out his trident, and sprayed Percy with water, Annabeth had to let Percy go, to avoid the spray.

The water was breaking through Hera's block, and in a matter of minutes everything was back. Percy knew exactly who he was, where he had come from, who everyone was.

"I am Percy Jackson!" Percy exclaimed to everyone.

The demigods laughed slightly.

"No duh!" Clarisse mocked.

Poseidon nodded, who ever had done the memory magic had been a powerful an Olympian.

"Someone erased my son's memories, without his or my consent, if I find out whom..." Poseidon said softly, yet somehow menacingly. "I will get creative."

Percy smiled at his Dad, it was kind of nice having him defend him. "Thanks Dad, but when I find out who took away my memories, well they will have their own personal tornado."

Poseidon nodded with pride. "That's my boy."

Annabeth was trying not to look at Hera, the fates warned her not to reveal anything. Watching Hera get her butt kicked by a father son duo was so tempting though.

"So Percy you remember me?" Annabeth asked again, "Everything about us?"

Percy nodded. "Of course I do."

Annabeth punched as hard as she could in the arm. Even though it didn't hurt, Percy winced. It was instinct.

"Hey! What was that for?" Percy yelled.

The Gods and the newer demigods wondered that too.

Athena liked this exchange, maybe her daughter had come to her senses.

"You promised you would never leave," Annabeth said, her eyes were starting to water, which just annoyed her.

Percy pulled her close, and whispered. "I won't leave you. Even a God couldn't make me forget you."

Annabeth held him tight. "Just don't leave Ok."

Percy knew exactly how Annabeth felt, he remembered losing her, and it destroyed him, even though he wasn't sure how he felt. It must have been so hard for Annabeth. Wait why did someone take his memories?

"Why did someone take my memories away?" Percy asked.

Annabeth wondered if she was allowed to tell him. "When we are alone I will explain."

"You explaining things to me, we are back to normal." Percy joked.

Annabeth laughed, and this time she was laughing with Percy, not at an old memory. She was bursting with happiness.

Leo was so confused. Annabeth had punched him, and yelled at him, but Percy had kissed her and made her laugh, and he was so happy. They both were. What in the name of Hades was Percy's secret?

Malcolm looked away, it was his sister after all.

Jason had realized Percy hadn't made it to Camp Jupiter, he didn't know anything about his friends.

Percy looked around and smiled. "Thalia, Nico, guys! Miss me?"

Nico was the first to come up to Percy. "Nice to see you."

Percy laughed, "I missed you too." Percy hugged Nico, even though the kid was embarrassed.

All the Gods were surprised at the display of affection. A demigod who clearly loved a child of Hades.

Hades had never thought a child of one of his brother's would care for Nico, let alone two.

Thalia walked up to Percy. And Percy jumped in the air, "You had to shock me!" Percy yelled.

"That was for your disappearing act, I had to actually search for you." Thalia complained, but honestly she was so glad to see Percy.

"Missed you too cuz" Percy said. Thalia turned to sit back down, when Percy splashed her with some water.

Zeus and Poseidon expected this to lead to a huge fight. After all that would be what they did.

Instead the two just laughed, Thalia sat down.

The brothers were definitely surprised by this behavior. It was so calm and rational. They should talk to their children.

Travis and Conner rushed up to Percy, hugging him.

"Don't ever leave us with Annabeth again!" Both of them fake wept.

"Why, what's wrong with Annabeth?" Percy asked.

Both the brothers were smart enough to say nothing in union, because if there was one thing worse than insulting Annabeth personally, it was insulting Annabeth to Percy.

Percy laughed.

Jason watched as Malcolm, Katie and Will all went up to Percy. He was so loved. Jason had this image of Percy being like a Roman leader, loved by his people of course, but he didn't feel that way about them. Yet it was clear that Percy loved his friends dearly.

Piper still couldn't get over the amount of love that Percy and Annabeth had.

She could see it in Percy's eyes. One was always following Annabeth.

Clarisse came forward with Chris.

Percy wasn't expecting any kind words from Clarisse, but he did not expect her to punch him. In hindsight that was stupid.

Again just out of sheer instinct Percy said ow! "Why does everyone keep hitting me?!"

Clarisse smirked. "Ugly huh? You think I am stupid?"

Percy was confused. "What are you talking about?"

"It's bad enough you go missing, and everyone has to give up their time to

find you, but now you think I am stupid?" Clarisse said.

Percy was so confused, so naturally he turned to Annabeth for the answer.

"Well while you were gone, um, the fates left us these books." Annabeth started.

Athena did not like the face that Percy made at the mention of books that was not the correct reaction to knowledge.

"These books are your thoughts."

For once it was ok for Percy to feel confused.

"How?" Percy asked. "When, about what?"

"It seems the first book covers our first quest. Before you interrupt, we can't give away any of the future to the Gods." Annabeth added.

"Wait, we... when are we?" Percy asked.

"The year before you go to Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth clarified.

"Sooo the Gods don't know anything about me or stuff" Percy asked. Maybe they didn't hate him yet.

"Well they know some stuff, since we have been reading the books." Annabeth continued.

Percy tried to understand, wait if this was the one about his first quest then...the bathroom incident. "So when you were reading my thoughts, Clarisse heard me describe her, huh?"

Clarisse nodded.

Hades! Percy thought, he didn't want people to read his thoughts. "Do we have to read my thoughts...aren't thoughts...kind like private?"

"Why do you have something to hide?" Athena questioned. She hoped that Percy had something to hide, that way her daughter would see that she could do far better than this boy.

"No" Percy said defensively. "But it's weird."

"It does not matter to us, the fates have instructed us to read, and that is what we will do." Athena said firmly.

"My daughter is right, so in fifteen minutes we will start reading again." Zeus said.

Percy held Annabeth's hand. "Wanna explain what happened to me?"

"Later, I promise." Annabeth didn't want Percy to attack Hera, and reveal keys things about the future, angering the fates was just too dangerous. She wasn't going to let anything happen to Percy now.

"Let me introduce you too, the new comers." Annabeth said. In hopes of distracting Percy.

"Sure" Percy said. He liked meeting new people.

Jason came forward, he had wondered what this moment would be like.

"I am Jason Grace." Jason put his hand out.

Percy shook it. Grace that was Thalia's last name. Wait... "Are you Thalia's brother?"

Percy was sure that Thalia didn't have a brother, but...they did kinda look alike. It was the eyes, both were stormy.

"Yes I am." Jason said.

"Long story." Thalia stated. "I'll tell you later."

Percy was starting to feel out of the loop. Why wouldn't anyone tell him anything?

Leo saw the same look on Percy's face that had been on his own face. "Hey I am Leo Valdez, you are hilarious."

Percy smiled at the compliment. Someone appreciated his thoughts. "Thanks man, I'm sure you are cool too."

Leo almost blushed. Percy didn't look sarcastic or like he was just being polite, he looked like he actually meant it.

"I am Piper Mclean."

Percy smiled at her too. "Did you know there is a movie star with the same last name?" Tristan Mclean made great action movies, Percy thought.

"Ya, he's my Dad." Piper said.

"Cool," Percy said.

Piper was waiting for the moment, the hundred questions about her father, what was he like or could I have his autograph moment.

"Anyways, it's nice to meet you." Percy said. "What cabin are you in?"

He was asking about her? Piper was so surprised. But then again demigods didn't care as much about movie stars as normal mortals.

"Aphrodite." Piper answered.

Percy just nodded.

Zeus called everyone back to the Throne room. He was too impatient to wait 15 minutes.

Percy was nervous, did these books really tell everyone everything?

Annabeth was recapping the book for him. She purposely skipped over the details of his home life. She would tell him when they were alone, she didn't want to have him deal with that in front of everyone. Especially when his privacy had already been invaded.

"Who will like to read?" Athena asked.

"Chris hasn't read yet." Travis suggested. His brother punched him, he didn't want to read.

"Is there something wrong with reading?" Athena questioned.

"Absolutely not, I would love to read, my lady." Chris said, while glaring at Travis. He would get him back for this later.

**"I Am Offered a Quest,"**

Poseidon groaned. "You only arrived at Camp, and have only been there for a few days. All heroes' receive years of training before a quest."

Jason agreed, it was too early for a quest.

"Relax Dad, I do just fine," Percy said. That didn't give too much away right? he was still alive so the Gods must have realized he survived.

Poseidon was very grateful for Percy's assurances.

"Be careful about what you say demigod." Athena warned.

**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**

Jason had always liked cabin three, for a big three cabin it didn't look so...lonely.

**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**

Percy didn't like everyone hearing his thoughts. It was so weird.

"That would be heaven," The Stoll's said in unison.

All the new demigods had to agree.

"It isn't all it's cracked up to be." Thalia moaned. Jason agreed.

Nico was just glad to have a cabin.

**And I was absolutely miserable.**

Leo, and Piper looked at him like he was crazy, they had to share a cabin with so many kids. Having your own space would be heaven.

Percy was just avoided eye contact with everyone, he was kind of embarrassed.

**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**

Everyone but Clarisse felt guilty.

"It wasn't like that." Katie said to Percy.

"It kind of was." Travis replied.

Percy smiled at everyone. "Relax, I don't care anymore."

**Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back.**

"Oh we were." Conner said.

"Big time." Will agreed.

"There were crazy rumors." Katie said.

"OK! Ok! I get it," Percy laughed.

Annabeth smiled, she missed that laugh so much.

**The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one; that I was the son of the Sea God; **

"That was a huge deal." Malcolm said, he had been shocked when Poseidon broke the oath.

"Not really" Percy said embarrassed.

"It is a big deal." Poseidon disagreed. "You are my son."

"It would have been a bigger deal if it was my child." Zeus countered.

"I will agree it was a big deal if no one fights." Percy said.

Both brothers shrugged and nodded.

**and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.**

"It was terrifying." Will said trying to defend the camps actions.

"We just didn't want to get caught in the middle." Clarisse added.

Thalia and Nico shared a look. "That is why neither of us wanted to be the child of the prophecy."

"It's ok" Percy said. He had gotten used to this a long time ago.

Poseidon didn't want to imagine how hard his son's life was.

Hades and Zeus hadn't meant to terrorize the whole camp. Even they thought that was harsh.

**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible.**

"It was...we're sorry," Katie knew that they didn't have a good reason so she should let it go.

"Relax, you guys apologize too much." Percy said.

Everyone burst out laughing. Percy was confused, why was everyone laughing at him?

"Percy you apologize way too much." Annabeth whispered in Percy's ear.

"I don't" Percy whispered back.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You will see, just listen."

**Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, **

Travis and Conner looked a little embarrassed. "Do you blame us?"

"Yes, wimps" Clarisse said.

"You weren't too keen on having classes with him either." Travis defended.

Percy laughed at that.

"Don't get a big head." Thalia added.

**so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**

"More like he wanted too," Conner said to his brothers.

Chris agreed, Luke had hated Percy the most, his life's goal was to kill him.

Percy wouldn't look Hermes in the eye.

Hermes thought his son was being a good teacher.

**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**

Annabeth couldn't believe how harsh he was being.

**Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.**

Percy smiled at the memory.

"You seemed determined to hate him." Piper pointed out. She wondered why it made Percy smile.

Annabeth shrugged, and kissed Percy lightly.

Percy pulled away, Athena was staring at him.

**After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"**

Athena was proud that her daughter wasn't falling all over Percy, just because he was Poseidon's kid. Now Percy's thoughts just had to ruin the relationship.

**Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.**

Clarisse moaned "I didn't know that."

Percy was going to think of a clever comeback, but his mind was drawing a blank.

Annabeth saw and interjected "It wouldn't matter. You would lose."

"Shut up Wise girl." Clarisse whined.

"Hey I am the only one who can call Annabeth that." Percy complained.

"It so weird hearing someone else call Annabeth wise girl." Malcolm said.

"Percy did get the nickname from me." Clarisse said.

Percy frowned. Hades that was true.

**I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. **

Percy didn't want anyone to know this. "Can you skip ahead please?"

"No" Athena answered for Chris.

People were now very interested.

**The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**

Chris wondered what Luke did.

The rest of the older demigods wondered what made Percy angry.

**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**

"Why didn't you tell me?" Annabeth asked. The news coverage had been horrible.

Percy cringed, "sorry."

"Did he tell anyone else?" Annabeth asked again.

No one said anything.

Annabeth sighed sadly, why did Percy have to be so annoyingly strong?

"Sorry again" Percy said softly.

"It's ok." Annabeth said gently, she didn't want Percy to feel bad.

**Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken.**

"At least one good thing came out of the accident." Artemis said. Harming a child was unforgivable.

Percy laughed, until he wondered why Artemis said that.

**The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**

"That will be beyond fixing." Hephaestus said. No one disagreed.

**Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**

**Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, **

"Who?" All the newest additions asked.

Annabeth didn't want to reveal Percy's secret.

"Step-father." Percy and Annabeth said quickly.

"Paul is your step father." Katie said. Percy wasn't secretive about Paul. He was a good man and a great father.

"He was an annoying guy, Percy doesn't like him. Don't ask question." Annabeth declared.

Percy thanked Annabeth. Maybe he should tell her the whole truth about Gabe.

The Gods and the other demigods felt really awkward.

Percy was oblivious to the pity.

**claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**

"You want violent tendencies? I will give you violent tendencies!" Thalia shouted, she couldn't believe that Percy never told her about Gabe and this whole thing. Luke could be so cruel.

"Sheesh, Thals, thanks for the support, but it's ok." Percy said. He was touched that she cared.

Annabeth glared at Thalia, this was not the time and place for this conversation. Annabeth wanted to tell Percy people knew in a calm and rational way.

**Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance,**

Now Annabeth was beginning to lose her cool.

Percy was so touched, all his friends were so supportive.

**but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**

**The phone number was circled in black marker.**

"Who did it?" Piper asked, it didn't sound like anyone at Camp Half-Blood.

Percy had a pretty good idea who it was, but that would give a lot away.

Annabeth and all the old campers knew the answer too.

**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**

**"Lights out," I told myself miserably**.

**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**

Everyone who knew Percy cringed. They all knew that he had the worst dreams, it was no secret.

Percy didn't want everyone to know about this.

"What's wrong?" Apollo asked.

"Percy has horrible dreams." Thalia said.

"Ya that." Percy said, he could answer questions too.

"They can't be that bad. All demigods have strange dreams." Piper said. She had suffered her fair share of awful dreams.

"Percy's dreams come in a mix, horrible nightmare, confrontation with an enemy or prophetic." Annabeth said.

"I can answer myself." Percy stated.

"Sure can" Annabeth said, while patting Percy's knees.

**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**

**About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting.**

Zeus and Poseidon had a feeling that it was them.

**They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. **"**Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green.**

**They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.**

The Gods looked at each other warily, things were bad. Would they really go into civil war?

**I had to stop them. **

"Even the twelve year old boy sees sense." Hera pointed out to the brothers.

**I didn't know why. **

"Do you ever know why you help people?" Thalia asked.

"Not likely, he probably doesn't want them to get hurt." Annabeth said.

"I was about to answer, Annabeth" Percy said. "But ya she's right."

**But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.**

**Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.**

The Gods laughed, that was so accurate.

Demeter added. "The boy has a point."

Zeus just ignored them.

**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**

**I yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting!**

Hestia nodded "wise words. But I know my brothers, they will not listen."

Hestia did not say the words with spit or anger, she was just telling the truth.

**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.**

"So this is a three way party." Demeter said, this was not going to be good.

**Come down, little hero, the voice crooned. Come down!**

"Way to sound creepy brother," Poseidon mocked.

Zeus laughed at that.

"It won't be so funny when I kill your children." Hades threatened. How much would they mock him then?

Their children looked weary.

Percy knew it wasn't Hades, he wanted to tell the Gods the truth. But he wasn't allowed. "Umm...guys, no need to fight."

Annabeth wished Percy wouldn't get involved, he hadn't seen how tense things were.

"Not yet..."Hades trailed off.

The brothers knew war might come.

Poseidon held onto his trident, he would be ready for war.

**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**

"Your dreams suck." Leo said.

"Way to point out the obvious." Clarisse mocked.

**I woke up, sure I was falling.**

**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, **

"You have really good internal clock." Artemis said. She understood the value of the clock.

"Thank you" Percy said. He wasn't used to compliments from goddesses, it was nice.

**but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.**

"I was hoping that it was just a dream." Apollo said. War was always so annoying.

**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**

**"Come in?"**

**Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."**

**"Why?"**

"Yes why?" Mr. D moaned. "I don't even like you."

"Feelings mutual." Percy said.

The Gods were all surprised, did that boy just talk back to a God.

**"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**

"Kill you sounds about right." Mr. D said harshly.

"Grover!" Annabeth moaned.

"You never tell people that." Katie agreed.

Percy didn't seem bothered by it. Only because he knew that his thoughts were going to tell everyone the truth anyways.

**Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**

Everyone looked at Percy.

"Come on, when am I not in trouble?" Percy asked.

"Good point," Annabeth said.

Percy smiled at the compliment.

**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.**

"Yes, yes it is!" Hera again interrupted, earning herself quite a few glares for her thoughts.

Thalia and Nico wondered if the Gods felt the same way about them, they came to the same answer; yes.

**The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.**

"We would just to deliver the verdict by smiting you." Zeus said.

"There is no verdict, because he is my son." Poseidon yelled. "I mean it isn't a crime for him to exsist."

"Thanks Dad." Percy knew that his father always meant well.

**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**

**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**

Leo loved that about Camp Half-Blood.

**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**

**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**

**I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**

**But this storm ... this one was huge.**

Zeus was proud of his storm. It looked like it was going to be epic.

**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs.**

Will remembered the game.

**Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**

"It was the strangest thing to happen in a long time." Katie said.

**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.**

**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**

**I waited.**

**"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to bow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**

Poseidon sprayed Mr. D with a metric ton of water.

Percy burst out laughing, even the other demigods laughed.

"I'm sorry ok." Mr. D groaned. He wished he could blame it on the alcohol, but he wasn't allowed to drink.

**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**

The campers remembered that storm, it was the first time that anyone was afraid of a storm. After all they thought they were protected for the wrath of the Gods, inside the camp at least.

**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**

**Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.**

**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble.**

Dionysus now realized he should be terrified of what Poseidon would do to get even.

Percy laughed slightly. He remembered when his biggest concern was Mr. D causing his molecules to erupt. Ahh the good old days.

**But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**

"It is your mission, one you don't want to fail." Zeus said. "It seems that my own children will be coming to camp. I will keep a closer eye on things."

Dionysus sighed. Stupid brats, Zeus might actually force him to do his job.

**"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**

Jason couldn't believe that the Greeks had such a harsh camp director.

**"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."**

"I would transform him back and then turn all your children into wine and force you to drink the wine." Poseidon said harshly, his child was off limits.

Everyone was officially terrified of the sea god. Hades was proud of his brothers' insult. It gave him an idea for the fields of punishment.

**"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.**

**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**

"I have a feeling that his future is going to be tough." Apollo said.

"You don't need to be the god of prophecies to see that." Artemis said to her twin.

**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.**

**He snapped his fingers.**

**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**

**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**

**We did.**

**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**

**"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**

Percy sighed, he was sure that someone was going to make fun of him for this next part. He remembered being, well scared.

**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**

**Chiron probably wanted me to say, Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast.**

"You like Hellhounds now." Nico said helpfully.

Percy nodded thoughtfully. He wondered how Mrs. O'Leary was doing.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

Piper and Leo wondered too, who in their right minds like hellhounds?

"Mrs. O'Leary." Nico said vaguely. He wasn't allowed to give anything away.

Percy was glad that no one mocked him.

**But I didn't feel like lying.**

Hestia nodded in approval.

**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**

**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**

"Chiron isn't very good with reassuring campers." Piper pointed out.

"He gets better, sort of." Annabeth said.

"Not really, but that makes him Chiron" Percy said.

**"Done ... with what?"**

**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**

**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**

**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**

"They never tell you that." Clarisse complained.

**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**

"Yes, and it wouldn't be hard for him at all, if you sent him off on a quest without telling him anything about it." Hephaestus rolled his eyes. He didn't understand living things, they were all contradictions.

**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**

**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"**

**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**

**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**

"Asking a question and actually getting a correct answer from Percy is very, very rare." Thalia mocked. "It must be questioned."

"Hey!" Percy shouted.

Thalia laughed, Percy had to smile and laugh with her. If Thalia was mocking him then things were semi normal.

**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft.**

Annabeth remembered that conversation well. She had wanted to help so badly.

**And ... I've also been having these dreams."**

"Hey man, sucks about your dreams." Leo said again, he understood the feeling.

Percy smiled at the new guy. "Thanks, but you get used to it."

Leo hoped so. If Percy could get used to the crazy psycho dreams than maybe he could too. Percy seemed to have had them for a long time.

"At least your dreams can be prophetic, that is super useful." Apollo said happily.

Percy laughed. "Ya, being terrorized when you're awake and asleep is my idea of fun."

"The future part is still awesome." Apollo ignored the rest.

"I'd rather leave the future stuff the experts." Percy said.

Apollo took that as a compliment, he liked this guy.

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**

**"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**

"All I want to know is what was stolen." Zeus said. And as an afterthought he added. "And the person who stole it so I can unleash my fury on them."

"How do we know it wasn't you who stole something, brother." Hades accused.

"Right, I do not break ancient laws."

Thalia and Jason cleared their throats.

"You two were breaking an oath, not law" Zeus defended.

"The distinction makes so much difference, dear husband." Hera criticized.

"You all will get your answers in the book, if you would pay attention." Athena stated. That drew everyone's attention to the book.

**"Only the Oracle can determine."**

Apollo was looking forward to this. Oracles, and prophecies were his favorite part of heroic quests.

Percy made a face at the mention of the Oracle. He much preferred Rachel. The old Oracle was way, way, way too creepy.

**Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. **

"Ha!" Hades declared. "Once again, you two fight like two...what did you describe them as Percy Jackson?"

Percy sighed and said. "Kindergartners."

Hades liked making the boy have to insult his own father. "Yes Kindergarteners. One of you is obviously this mysterious thief."

Poseidon and Zeus were obviously angry. "We will see brother." Poseidon was already starting to suspect Hades as a thief. He would have no problem framing him or Zeus.

Ares could see the makings of a great three way war. He would just make sure to whisper in everyone's ear.

None of the demigods could correct them, so they just watched. Except for Percy. He didn't want anyone to fight.

"Hey guys, the book get's really interesting after this part."

**They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."**

Percy forgot about that line.

Zeus was immediately furious. The crackles of lightning were shouting out of his body.

Ares looked like a kid on Christmas morning, there was no way that war could be avoided.

"SOMEONE STOLE MY LIGHTINING BOLT!" Zeus wondered which of his brothers to smite first.

Poseidon had gotten out his Trident, things were about to get ugly.

The sisters wondered if they would ever be able to prevent war. This was going to be awful.

Athena's mind was racing, when, how, who? If they had not been reading Percy Jackson's thoughts Athena would have assumed it was him. This was going to be the conclusion that her future self and Zeus would reach. That would mean that Zeus and Poseidon go to war. This was very bad indeed.

The other gods didn't want to go to war. It always messed with their lives.

Hades moved off his throne towards his son.

Jason, Piper and Leo watched as all eyes went to Percy and Annabeth. They all expected them to solve the problem.

Hera was trying to calm Zeus down.

"WHO STOLE IT?!"

"TELL ME!"

"Brother calm yourself now!" Poseidon yelled.

"Someone will tell me what I want to know, or children start dying." Zeus threatened.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, they couldn't tell him that he got it back, but they had to stop the fight.

"Lord Zeus!" Percy yelled.

He just wanted to distract him, before he smites anyone, but now he didn't know what to do.

"Um..."

"SO I guess you are first." Zeus shouted.

"Over your children's dead bodies!" Poseidon said menacingly.

"Hey!" Annabeth shouted. This time though the brothers were not going to be distracted.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at Percy.

Percy took a deep breath, the demigods watched him closely.

Woosh! A ton of water dropped on both Zeus and Poseidon.

Both brothers were to shocked to say anything.

"Someone would like to say something." Percy said motioning to Annabeth.

Annabeth had a strange desire to laugh, things were back to normal for sure. "We can't tell you what happens, the fates forbid it, but if we get through this book, all the answers will become clear. Everything is explained."

"My daughter is right, this fighting is foolish." Athena agreed.

"Yes father, this is so pointless," Artemis added.

"Dude, watch who you spray." Apollo complained, he had gotten a couple drops of water on his hair.

Ares was bummed, it looked like Poseidon and Zeus were calming down.

"Don't you dare spray me with water again!" Zeus said. "And we won't have a problem for this chapter."

Percy nodded, doing it once was fun enough.

Chris realized there was a title for the book now.

"The book is called Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief."

Zeus wondered if this meant that Percy Jackson was working with the thief, he could see that.

**I** **laughed nervously. "A what?"**

"My lightning bolt better not be a joking matter, or else you will suffer too." Zeus threatened.

Percy just sighed. He was used to the threats.

**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**

**"Oh."**

Jason wondered how Percy could be so calm. When the Gods started fighting, he didn't look frightened, any sane person should have been worried about being collateral damage, yet Percy actually got involved. He sprayed the Gods with water! And then acted as if it was nothing. Jason was looking forward to getting to know Percy, then maybe he would understand why and how he remained to calm.

**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**

"And I will get it back." Zeus promised. "Whoever stole it, will feel its wrath."

Poseidon and Hades rolled their eyes, both thinking the other one stole it.

**"And it's missing?"**

**"Stolen," Chiron said.**

**"By who?"**

"Whom" Annabeth, Malcolm and Athena said in unison.

Percy rolled his eyes.

**"By whom," Chiron corrected.**

"Guys, there is a crisis going on, and you're correcting each other's grammar." Apollo complained.

Athena glared at Apollo for 10 seconds, which was enough for him to shut up.

**Once a teacher, always a teacher.**

**"By you."**

"Wait!" Percy said putting his hands in the air in surrender.

Zeus had his lightning bolt out.

Poseidon was in front of Percy in a millisecond.

"Stand down Brother!" Poseidon said, his voice full of rage.

"Wait!" Percy yelled again.

All the other Gods were too focused on their children.

Athena had her hand on Annabeth and Malcolm, Nico was being hidden by Hades, and so on.

Artemis pulled Thalia towards her, she was her hunter, Thalia pulled Jason with her, he was her brother.

"There is explanation!" Percy yelled. "Just listen!"

"What will it be brother, war now" Poseidon asked. "Or we finish reading."

"We can read on one condition, if this boy steals the bolt he dies."

"None of you can say anything" Athena said. "Your answers could reveal key details about the future."

Damn, Percy thought, he could say he agreed and avoid the fighting.

Poseidon thought for a moment, he was sure that his son didn't do this. After all he just learned about demigods this was impossible.

"Deal, I have complete faith in my son. He just learned that he was a demigod, he can't have had the time to steal the bolt." Poseidon reasoned.

Athena was impressed by the conclusion. The Gods seemed to be losing their head, and usually when the two brothers fight all reason goes out the window, but this time it seemed the went for a logical conclusion.

"Return to your seats." Zeus moaned, he had realized he was out smarted. He had acted without thinking.

All the demigods sighed.

Percy went straight to Annabeth. "Feels like old times."

She laughed. "We need some new times."

**My mouth fell open.**

Chris realized he needed to read faster to avoid any more of these almost fights.

**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument.**

Demeter, Hera and Hestia sighed.

**The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,'**

Poseidon glared at his brother, Mother Rhea did always like him best.

**'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera.**

Zeus nodded in agreement, but his wife glared at him.

"You too just stopped fighting, do you really want your own children to get caught in the middle." Hera wouldn't have cared if the children died, but she didn't want to fight.

Zeus sighed, his wife was right.

**Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. **

"Wait, Olympus had a security breach?" Athena was shocked by this piece of information.

The Gods couldn't believe that someone had done this in Olympus.

"Hephaestus, you and Hermes will check the security after this." Zeus said.

Hermes knew the best way to break in, and Hephaestus could design a security system to circumvent those security holes.

"I will help as well." Athena said.

**He immediately blamed Poseidon.**

"Of course he does?" Poseidon moaned.

Hades was glad it wasn't him that was blamed first. No one would ever give his son the chance to say wait, or explain.

**Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**

Zeus was glad that Chiron was defending his thought process, he felt somewhat foolish for assuming it was Jackson, even though his thoughts made it clear that he hadn't stolen it.

**"But I didn't—"**

Percy hated being accused of things he didn't do, so he remembered being super defensive.

**"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**

Poseidon and Hades rolled their eyes. While Zeus eyed them suspiciously.

**The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."**

"Percy has had tons of time to steal dad," Thalia said. "You know when he didn't know he was a demigod."

Zeus wished he had a reasonable argument.

**"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"**

"Hey!" Zeus shouted.

Great Percy thought.

A lot of the demigods and Gods thought that was an accurate description.

"I didn't know you yet." Percy defended.

"And now" Annabeth whispered to Percy.

"Psycho" Percy whispered back. The two laughed together.

Zeus watched them closely.

**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid. "Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**

"Because I am not crazy" Zeus said.

"Sure" Poseidon agreed while winking at his son.

**"Perhaps paranoid, "Chiron suggested. **

Zeus was going to get that Centaur. He wasn't paranoid. "I am not paranoid, they are always out to get me."

"We have better things to do then 'get you'." Poseidon countered.

"Yes, we have our own kingdoms." Hades complained. He remembered the lines of dead people that were waiting for him when he got back to the underworld. So much work.

**"Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**

The older demigods laughed.

"Ya right."

"No way!"

"Please"

Annabeth couldn't help but chuckle.

Percy just smiled looking smug. He still remembered the answer.

**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. **

Percy waited for someone to ask more about who Gabe was.

"Percy, please spend so more time with my children, you must improve your thievery skills." Hermes said.

Percy laughed. "Sure thing." Glad that no one was focused on the name.

**Chiron was waiting for an answer.**

**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**

Zeus glared at everyone, there was an awkward tension.

Zeus had never felt more betrayed, his own wife and brother, along with his children had turned on him.

**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since.**

"I will never fully trust you again." Zeus said, but he didn't sound angry, he sounded hurt.

Poseidon motioned Chris to continue, he didn't know what to say to his brother.

**Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt.**

"I didn't do it brother." Poseidon stated.

Zeus scoffed, if he didn't use his own son, than he convinced another hero.

**He took great offense at the accusation. **

"Anyone would." Poseidon defended.

**The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**

Thalia smiled sadly at Percy. The two exchanged a look that meant something along the lines of, sucks being a child of the big three.

**"But I'm just a kid!"**

"No, Percy you are my son." Poseidon stated. The arrival of his son had changed many things. Poseidon kept glancing at his son. He seemed happy and healthy. The books so far had shown him he was a good man. He wondered how his son felt about him.

Percy shrugged, this was old news to him.

**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**

Zeus was surprised at the Satyr, he defended his way of thinking, and made him look less stupid. He still hated him though.

**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**

Poseidon was glad that his son didn't just assume it was him.

Hades scoffed, it was Poseidon, he was sure of it.

**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. **

"He prefers rash and thoughtless action." Athena stated.

Poseidon countered. "Opposed to petty grudges."

"Son, just keep reading." Hermes said. The Gods knew that Athena and Poseidon wouldn't actually do more than insult each other.

**But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. **

Hestia sighed, egos always got in the way.

**Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense.**

"We try and we try," Demeter moaned.

"They never see sense." Hera agreed.

"Perhaps if you two conversed more." Hestia suggested.

**But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. **

Jason, Leo and Piper all felt bad for Percy. Chiron seemed to be putting the weight of the world on his shoulders, and he was only twelve. That was a lot of unfair pressure.

**And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**

**"Bad?" I guessed.**

The Gods and Demigods laughed at the answer, even the brothers chuckled.

"Hey, it would be bad." Percy defended.

**"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**

"Trojan War" Ares said fondly. "Good times."

Aphrodite loved the love that was involved in the Trojan war.

**"Bad," I repeated.**

There were a few more chuckles.

"You should expand your vocabulary." Athena suggested.

**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**

"What are you going to do?" Percy said as he shrugged.

This was not a reaction the gods expected.

**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**

"That was one of the weirdest days at camp ever" Katie said.

"I have to agree." Malcolm stated. He had been shocked, and more importantly confused. Which he rarely was.

Percy still felt little bit guilty about the rain.

"Who would have thought one of the weirdest days at camp involved something to normal." Leo said thoughtfully.

"Because it's not supposed to rain man." Will said. "I was playing volleyball, I got hit in the head because I was so surprised.

"Sorry guys," Percy said.

"It was not your fault." Thalia said. She was looking at her father.

**I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. **

Zeus wondered how scared he made his brother's son. He was looking excited. Making him afraid would make his day.

**I was furious.**

"Wait...what?" Zeus said. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't afraid of him. That wasn't possible.

Chris repeated the line.

Percy was getting weird looks; "What?"

"You were angry at him?" Jason questioned. Pointing to his stunned father. "Not afraid."

Percy just shrugged. "Ya, I was pissed."

Poseidon chuckled. "Guess you are losing your touch."

Zeus was going to make sure he scared the living daylights out of Percy Jackson.

**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."**

"It is not stupid!" Zeus shouted. He was still offended that he didn't scare Jackson, he wasn't going to here about how he considered his bolt stupid.

Hera though nodded in silent agreement. Her husband loved that bolt more than he loved her.

**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**

The Olympians saw the brilliance of the plan.

But if Poseidon didn't have Percy steal it, who did? They were all thinking the same thing.

**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**

Hades sighed. He knew what was coming.

**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim.**

Zeus and Poseidon both were looking at their brother.

**"Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**

Apollo perked up, he was looking forward to the prophecy.

The demigods who had met the oracle felt uncomfortable.

**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**

"Because too much information to soon can be just as dangerous as too little." Athena said wisely.

"They don't want to scare you, basically, until it's too late." Percy said.

The demigods understood Percy's explanation a lot better.

**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**

**I swallowed. "Good reason."**

Poseidon knew that this meant he had accepted the quest, he had still been hoping that somehow he avoided this hardship.

**"You agree then?"**

**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**

"Of course he would, his life isn't in any danger." Poseidon said.

Percy was surprised, his own thoughts were along those lines.

**Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**

**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**

"No it isn't" Poseidon argued. "Next time get turned into a dolphin, I will just turn you back."

"I'll keep that in mind dad." Percy said while laughing. Annabeth could imagine Percy as a dolphin, they were intelligent animals, she could probably train him.

**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."**

"This part is always fun." Clarisse said sarcastically. She still remembered her own trip. It was horrible.

"You look relatively sane." Apollo said sadly. He was hoping for him to go nuts.

"Sorry to disappoint." Percy said.

"Don't worry, Lord Apollo Percy is insane," Thalia said. "He didn't need to the oracle for that."

Everyone laughed.

Apollo smiled slightly.

Percy glared at Thalia. She just laughed more.

**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door.**

**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**

**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**

"I hate snakes!" Katie shouted. One bad run in when she was gardening was enough to make her hate every single snake.

Travis and Conner were so going to buy rubber snakes, now.

**I held my breath and climbed.**

**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things—severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**

**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.**

Apollo was staring angrily at Hades. It was all his fault! His perfect Oracle had turned into that.

**Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.**

The campers remembered the day she had come down for the attic, it was the first time most of the campers had ever seen the mummy. They had always assumed Clarisse, Annabeth and Percy had exaggerated, but that mummy was terrifyingly creepy. She had been able to distract Percy when he was angry, which never happens.

**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut.**

No one laughed at Percy, because they all knew how terrifying the mummy was.

Jason, Leo and Piper were glad that they dealt with Rachel. She seemed to be a hundred times better.

**Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**

Apollo nodded in approval.

**I wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom.**

Everyone laughed.

"Man you are...perfect." Leo said while laughing.

Percy smiled at the compliment.

"Or you are an idiot." Clarisse stated.

"Idiot." Most of the campers agreed.

Percy huffed.

**But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**

Poseidon was impressed by that. His son was brave. Even though he had every right to be terrfied and run, he stood firm. That was a mark of Hero.

**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either..**

"Good observations." Artemis complimented.

Poseidon liked the instincts.

"You are so right." Apollo added. "She doesn't like killing much."

**I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"**

Apollo laughed at that. "Not the best question, but you got her attention."

**The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.**

Percy hated this part. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out a way to explain Gabe away.

**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**

**Everyone felt so sorry for Percy.**

Annabeth held Percy's hand in a comforting gesture.

**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.**

**Hades swore under his breath, in ancient Greek. No one would assume that there was another God in the west besides him.**

"You will pay for this brother." Zeus said quietly. "When we are alone, you shall pay dearly."

"I didn't do this, but if you want a fight brother, I warn you, that the consequences will be dire." Hades retorted.

**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.**

Zeus was glad that he would get his bolt back, punishing Hades would definitely involve tons of lightning.

**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.**

Percy looked away. All the older demigods knew who this 'friend' was.

"I'm sorry Percy." Annabeth whispered. "I never thought you considered him a friend."

"It's ok, I just feel bad for you, Thalia, Hermes and his followers." Percy said softly.

The two silently comforted each other.

**Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all:**

Everyone thought it had been pretty bad so far, what could be worse.

**And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.**

Zeus was so angry. He would fail to save his master bolt!

"How do you even know that your bolt matters most to the boy!" Hera shouted at her husband. "Every other being in this world thinks that bolt is stupid!"

Zeus was shocked at his wife's outburst.

Chris took the silence as a sign to keep reading.

**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**

"You're not going to get an answer!" Apollo said fondly. His oracle was fun like that.

**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**

**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**

"Nothing would get you more answers." Apollo said.

"All you ever get with prophecies is more questions." Annabeth moaned. She hated them.

Apollo laughed. "That's the best part."

**My audience with the Oracle was over.**

**"Well?" Chiron asked me.**

**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**

Zeus couldn't believe that the brat thought there was something more important than his lightning bolt, but at least this meant that he was successful.

**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**

**"What did the Oracle say exactly?"Chiron pressed. "This is important."**

**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. **

Percy was glad that everyone seemed distracted by the prophecy, no one asked him who smelly Gabe was.

**"She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**

**"I knew it," Grover said.**

Percy smiled, the best part was Grover was being sincere, he really did think he could do it. Which is awesome in a best friend.

**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**

**I didn't want to tell him.**

Athena was liking the fact that Percy did hide his thoughts, right now he was an innocent prepubescent demigod, but after this quest he would get a big head, than his thoughts would ruin his relationship with Annabeth.

**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**

All the older campers looked at Percy like he was stupid.

"You have plenty of friends." Thalia said.

Percy blushed he felt embarrassed, his friends looked hurt.

"When this happened, I was kind of the loner, the weird child of the big 3." Percy said. "Now I know that I have plenty of friends."

"Good" Katie said firmly.

Percy smiled towards Jason, Leo and Piper and hopefully some new ones.

Leo was glad that even big heroes felt unsure and like nobodies, it made him feel like there was hope for him.

**And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, Oh, by the way, you'll fail.**

Apollo smirked, "the best kind."

All the heroes that had dealt with prophecies glared at him.

He shrugged, there was never enough oracle love.

**How could I confess that?**

**"No," I said. "That's about it."**

"Chiron is going to know that you are lying," Athena said.

"He always does son." Poseidon added.

"Trust me, no one ever gets anything by centaur." Hermes stated.

"That old centaur can see through the best bluffer," Mr. D said. He always lost to him in poker.

**He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**

"Tell me about it." Percy whispered to Annabeth.

She nodded in agreement. Hopefully this applied to the new Great Prophecy too.

"Sometimes its worse." Apollo said happily.

This did not make Annabeth feel better.

**I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.**

**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**

**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**

"Chiron is going to pay for this" Hades growled. "I had nothing to do with this pointless theft. If I wanted war, you would not be guessing which brother started it!"

Zeus huffed. "Poseidon didn't use his own son, but you had your children hidden away until you needed them. Who's to say you didn't take them out of the Lotus Casino for this.

"My child would not be here if that were the case" Hades shouted. "I would never send my children on a suicide mission. I put them in the Casino to keep them safe from you!"

"Where is your daughter?!" Zeus shouted back.

"Don't you dare accuse Bianca!" Nico shouted, he was terrifyingly angry. "DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT?"

Zeus wondered what was wrong with these demigods, why in the name of Gods weren't they afraid of him. First Jackson now this skinny teenager.

"My son is right." Hades said more calmly. He had to worry about his Son now. "We should just continue reading, the truth will come out. And when it does you will owe me and my son an apology."

Poseidon saw Percy with his hand in his pocket, but it looked tense, like he was getting ready to jump in, if there was a fight, and Poseidon had no doubt that Percy would jump in if there was a fight.

Zeus nodded in agreement, he was sure though. Hades would just suffer a little later.

Percy walked over to Nico, and calmed him down.

"Bianca was a hero, and no one, not even Zeus could ever change that." Percy said softly. "They will all hear the truth."

Nico nodded, he just hated the idea of someone disrespecting Bianca's memory, or even thinking that she was anything other than a hero.

All the Gods and Demigods who didn't know Bianca were now very curious to hear what happened to her.

**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**

**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**

"I never once broke my word." Hades said softly, yet menacing. "Yet somehow I am the one to be suspected."

Poseidon and Zeus felt bad for breaking the oath, but they didn't feel bad for suspecting Hades.

**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**

"And I thought I would only moderately hate you." Hades stated while glaring at Percy.

Percy sighed, would it help for him to tell Hades that he was his favorite uncle.

**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**

Hades was glaring at the book. Chris could feel chills all the way down his spine. He hoped that Chiron would stay clear of the Lord of Death for a while.

**A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"**

"The quest isn't so exciting now" Clarisse laughed.

"Notice the tension." Thalia whispered. The Gods were all on edge. "Interrupting isn't a good idea."

**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**

"Perhaps I just wanted to kill him for being alive. Ever think of that." Hades stated.

"Thanks uncle, good to know how you really feel." Percy said. "It's not like I ever hurt you."

Hades looked at his nephew. "Nothing personal Percy, but you shouldn't be alive."

"Personal, I thought we were family, but whatever helps you sleep at night." Percy said softly.

Thalia smiled at Percy. That was exactly how she felt.

The other demigods realized it really did suck to be a child of the big three, everyone wanted you dead for being alive.

**"Yes, but—but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."**

Hades felt somewhat guilty, only because Percy seemed to genuinely care for his son.

**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**

Hades realized someone was trying to frame him. Whoever that was going to pay.

**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**

"Percy there will be tons more." Conner and Travis said.

Annabeth glared at them to shut up. This could be considered revealing the future.

The Gods wondered which one of them hated him.

Athena, Mr. D, Ares were all sure they hated him, the others were on the fence, even Hera wasn't sure yet.

**"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**

"Pathetic protector." Zeus mumbled under his breath. Thalia heard him though.

**"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. **

"The only thing that is certain is, you would all rather blame me than face the truth." Hades groaned.

Percy and Annabeth thought that was pretty much the truth. They didn't blame the Gods for not wanting to see the truth, Hades probably wouldn't blame the Gods either, Kronos was much worse.

**Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**

"So nephew how terrified were you?" Hades wanted some good news to cheer him up. Nothing made him feel as good as terrifying demigods. He also wanted to show Zeus how it was done.

Jason, Leo and Piper thought it would be perfectly fine to be scared, no demigod made it out alive, no one ever survived the underworld. He should be scared.

Percy just waved Chris to keep reading. Hades took this to mean embarrassment.

**A strange fire burned in my stomach. **

Hades smiled brightly, and smugly.

**The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. **

"What?!" Hades exclaimed.

Percy shrugged. "I wasn't afraid." yet.

Everyone was shocked, even the older campers, any sane person should be scared.

**It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. **

"What?" Hades said again.

"There is something wrong with this child." Zeus said in agreement.

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed. "I am sitting right here."

"Brothers, just because you can't scare my son, doesn't mean that there is something wrong with him." Poseidon said smugly.

"No there has to be something wrong with him." Hades said ignoring his brother.

"Were you dropped as a child?" Zeus questioned.

"What scares you?" Hades asked.

All eyes were on Percy, Annabeth found this exchange funny.

"First of all, there is nothing wrong with me, you too just weren't that scary." Percy defended. "I have my reasons for not being afraid, and I'm sure that they will be explained."

Hades and Zeus wondered what could cause him not be afraid.

"And Second, I will never tell you if I am afraid of something." Percy said calmly. "You would only use it against me."

Hades and Zeus saw that as a fair point.

"You are still strange." Hades stated.

"I can live with strange." Percy laughed.

**Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.**

"This is why you should be afraid," Hades said. "Just FYI."

**I was ready to take him on.**

Hades had to admire that. He wanted revenge, a feeling he understood. "You won't be able to win."

"I know that you are a god." Percy said.

All the Gods thought this was Percy saying that he agreed with Hades, but Annabeth was proud of his deception. The Gods would never think that Percy was avoiding giving away something.

"Good answer, especially for a seaweed brain." Annabeth whispered.

**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld…**

Oh, Hades thought. This all made sense now.

_Fail to save what matters most in the end, _Athena thought, it all made sense now, he wanted to save his mother.

Percy got some sad looks, he didn't feel sad though.

"Do you think they will let me go see mom?" Percy questioned Annabeth.

"We are in the past, you can't see your present mother, that's too confusing," Annabeth explained.

"Oh" Percy said. Time Travelling was confusing.

**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**

"Starting to see sense" Hades said.

"Still not scared though." Percy added.

"Who knew that Percy still had a part of his brain that was sane?" Conner questioned.

"Yah, it has to be gone by now." Travis said.

Everyone laughed at Percy.

Percy glared at them. They both shut up.

**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**

Zeus was thinking coward.

**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**

Hestia smiled at the demigod. This was a friend. He was more worried about others, not focused on his own destiny, which seemed to be horrible.

**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, **

Hades huffed at that.

**"why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**

"Because they would lose." Hades said.

"You had to say that." Demeter moaned. "Couldn't you let it go, do you just want to keep fighting?"

Hades glared at his mother in law.

Zeus and Poseidon took this as a moment to rise above their brother, effectively making him look bad.

**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—**

Hades glared at his brother.

**they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**

The demigods all looked uncomfortable. They all knew that they were being used.

**"You're saying I'm being used."**

The Gods didn't know what to say. They did at times use their children, but it was a necessary evil. They had to know that they loved them too.

**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**

"I would have claimed you either way." Poseidon said. "You are a son of the sea."

Percy nodded, he knew that his dad would have claimed him eventually, the thing that always bothered Percy was when? Would he have claimed him when he was 16? Would he have claimed him when his powers gave him away? Or he just needed something else?

**My dad needs me.**

This was the part Percy didn't like, his emotions, his personal thoughts were about to be read out to everyone.

**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.**

Poseidon was about to say something, but Percy put up his hand. "This is all in the past." Percy didn't want to hear any explanation, it wouldn't change anything.

**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"**

"It was kinda obvious." Piper said.

**"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**

**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**

"That's fair." Hestia said fondly. Percy wasn't an entitled demigod, which she liked.

**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**

"Looking forward to it." Hades said darkly.

**"Check," Chiron said.**

**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**

"You better find it," Zeus threatened. "Or else."

**"Check."**

**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**

"Man that's a lot of pressure." Leo said.

Jason couldn't believe the amount of responsibility they were placing on a 12 year old boy. Yet Jason did think it was a huge honor. Percy's father thought he could save the day for him. Jason wondered if his father would have thought the same thing. No, probably not, he would just ask Thalia or someone else.

**"That's about right."**

"That's more than enough." Hestia said.

Poseidon had to agree. His son definitely wasn't going to have it easy.

**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**

**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**

**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."**

"You are a sweet child." Aphrodite said fondly. She gave Percy a thousand watt smile.

Percy was almost blushing. "Thanks."

Every did think Percy was a good friend.

**"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."**

Hades wished that Percy reacted like this when he was told about going to the underworld, this was the correct reaction.

"Coward." Zeus repeated.

**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**

"Grover is the farthest thing from a coward." Thalia said to her father. "He agreed to go on this quest, even though he was terrified. I can't think of anything braver."

Everyone else agreed with Thalia.

"Grover is the bravest Satyr I know." Percy added fondly.

**I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic.**

Everyone chuckled.

Percy wasn't embarrassed though. He needed Grover.

**Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. **

Now Percy was embarrassed.

Leo liked the idea of Percy being 'uncool' maybe he could give him some pointers on how to change. Jason and Piper had always been cool, he was the loser.

**I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead,**

"None" Hades said darkly.

**but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.**

"Grover would be so happy to hear that." Annabeth whispered to Percy.

**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**

**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**

**"Where?"**

"Los Angeles." Hades said.

"Ah!"Apollo said. "Got love sin city."

"Yes you do." Hermes agreed.

"It is a town." Ares added.

"So filled with passion, love, and marriage." Aphrodite said.

"A great town to party in." Dionysus said fondly. "Oh how I miss it."

**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. **

"It is nicknamed Sin City." Malcolm said.

Percy just rolled his eyes.

**The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**

**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"**

"What is wrong with you?" Athena questioned.

"No!" Poseidon shouted.

"If you want to die" Zeus said casually.

"Relax!" Percy shouted. "I get it!"

**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**

**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. **

"Not having money isn't something to be ashamed about." Hestia said. "It is the person inside that matters most."

Percy nodded.

"Rich, poor, famous, ugly, beautiful, doesn't matter who your parents are" Hades said. "They are all the same when they reach the underworld."

Percy was oddly touched by Hades words, was he telling him that to make him feel better, or because he wanted to remind him that his parent didn't matter.

**Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**

Percy glared at Zeus. He wished he could've saved his mom from that pain.

**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**

Percy knew that he was the exception to that rule.

**Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.**

"Dramatic much." Hera muttered.

**"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."**

Annabeth hated thinking about land. It seemed so dangerous now. Which was a scary thought.

**"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."**

Athena immediately knew who volunteered; why?

**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**

"You called Annabeth stupid and survived?" Conner said in a shocked tone.

"Don't even make a joke." Percy said to Travis.

They both shut up.

**The air shimmered behind Chiron.**

**Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**

"Why did you have to volunteer for a suicide quest?" Athena asked. "Couldn't you start with something less dangerous?"

Annabeth sighed, she had her own reasons. "This books is about Percy's thoughts, I have don't have to share mine."

**"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon,**

Poseidon shrugged, he wasn't bothered by it anymore.

**but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."**

"You are the only person that can keep me from messing up." Percy whispered to Annabeth.

**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"**

Annabeth blushed.

**Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"**

All the demigods laughed that was until one glare from Annabeth shut them up.

**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**

**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**

"A trio is always good for quests," Athena said. "3 is a powerful number."

**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**

**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**

**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."**

"That's the end of the chapter." Chris said.

"We shall take a break for lunch." Zeus said. He knew that everyone including him, needed time to cool down.

The demigods all walked out of the chamber.

"I know that our tempers are flaring, but we cannot afford to fight." Zeus held up his hand, so no one said anything.

"We should agree that we will not fight."

Everyone nodded, the Gods did not want to fight anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Hey I just wanted to thank everyone for their awesome reviews! Sorry for any mistakes, I tried to proof read.**

**Just a reminder updates will take longer now that school has started, but I will do my best :)**

**Enjoy :D**


	11. Chapter 11

Percy never thought he would want to avoid a meal, but that was the case. Lunch could wait, he wanted answers.

Percy wanted to know why he lost so much of his life, and most importantly who did it.

Hestia informed the demigods that she would have lunch prepared in 15 minutes.

Annabeth knew that Percy was getting inpatient, so she held his hand and led him to a private chamber in Olympus.

Before anything was said between the two, they pulled each other in for a warm embrace.

Annabeth never wanted to move. This feeling was perfect.

"What happened to me?" Percy whispered.

Annabeth sat on the bed and motioned Percy to sit down. He was going to have a lot of news to deal with.

"The second Great prophecy is happening now." Annabeth said.

Percy sighed, "so much for seventy years."

Annabeth agreed.

"What does this have to do with me?" Percy asked, he knew that there was no way he was lucky enough not to be involved.

"I will tell you everything I know. Percy after you went missing..." Annabeth began explaining, the story would only make sense if she started from the beginning.

Percy listened, he kept feeling overwhelmed. And he had a huge desire to punch Hera in the face.

"Jason had to let her out of her cage." Percy complained.

Annabeth had to laugh. "I know right, he had to do the right thing."

The two shared a long smile.

"So if Hera wanted me in the exchange, then why am I here?" Percy said. He hadn't gone to Camp Jupiter, even though he was sure that was the camp that he was looking for.

"I don't know." Annabeth said feeling confused, a feeling that she despised. "I don't even know who sent us back in time. I think it might be another God interfering with Hera's plan, since you are here."

Percy couldn't believe there was going to be another war, and he had to make peace with Greece's greatest enemy.

"So I guess after this, I am heading to Camp Jupiter." Percy said sadly.

"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked. Percy wasn't serious. She just told him how the Roman's would kill him, if they found out he was Greek.

"Someone needs to prove to the Romans that we are the good guys." Percy said. "And apparently that job is mine. If we need them, then I have to do it."

Annabeth could see that Percy already cared. He wasn't going to avoid the war.

"We will talk about this later." Annabeth said. She needed time to formulate a plan, to evaluate the risks of going with a trade. "I need to make a plan first."

Percy smiled at Annabeth, he knew that she would say that.

"I missed you Annabeth." Percy said. "Even when I didn't know who you were, I missed you. It was like a piece of me was missing."

Annabeth knew exactly how he felt. "I missed you so much."

Percy hugged Annabeth.

"I don't want to ever lose you." Annabeth said softly.

"You won't, no matter what, we will always be together." Percy said. He knew that he couldn't promise that everything would be ok, or that they would be safe, but he could promise that he would never leave Annabeth's side again.

Annabeth kissed Percy, passionately. She poured every ounce of emotion into it. Percy responded, deepening the kiss.

Time stopped, nothing else mattered.

All the demigods were eating awesome food, though Demeter kept criticizing the lack of fiber.

The Gods had decided to remain with their children. They all feasted on ambrosia and nectar.

Athena was very aware of her daughter's absence.

Poseidon was pretty sure that his son had more important things on his mind, other than food.

Athena stood up abruptly.

Poseidon asked her "Where are you going?"

"To locate my daughter," Athena said harshly. His son was probably the reason her daughter wasn't eating.

Poseidon was going with her. If only to insure that she didn't kill his son.

All the demigods knew that Percy and Annabeth were in big trouble.

Piper whispered to Jason and Leo. "At least it isn't Coach Hedge," The two agreed.

Poseidon spoke very loudly. "Percy, Percy Jackson. Athena and I are looking for you." He hoped to give his son a fair warning.

Athena quickened her pace, in hopes of finding her child before Poseidon tipped off his child.

Annabeth and Percy heard Poseidon at the same time.

They both jumped.

"O' we are so dead." Percy exclaimed. Athena was going to kill him!

"Calm down!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Here put on your shirt."

Annabeth frantically straightened her hair. The footsteps got closer.

Percy looked at Annabeth, what was he supposed to do know?

"And that's what Chiron has been up too." Annabeth said, trying not to sound winded or nervous.

Athena and Poseidon opened the door.

"Mom!" Annabeth shouted. "You could have heard key details about the future!"

Athena eyed the two suspiciously.

"Lunch is ready. Come eat." Athena said. She had no proof, so she could not do anything.

Percy could feel the evil eye. Athena guided her daughter out of the room.

Poseidon smiled at his son.

"Come on, Percy" Poseidon laughed, he could see that his son was embarrassed.

"Athena will come around." Poseidon whispered. "I would be more careful though."

"I don't know what you mean." Percy said trying not to sound like he was lying.

"Sure son, I would run your fingers through your hair," Poseidon said with a wink.

Percy blushed.

Poseidon just laughed, as he entered the chamber.

Everyone watched Percy and Annabeth closely.

Percy sat next to Thalia, since Athena had put Annabeth next to Malcolm and her.

"At least you are still breathing," Thalia whispered to Percy. Percy couldn't keep his eyes of Annabeth.

"Shut up." Percy responded.

After lunch was finished.

Zeus wanted to begin reading again. Athena was attempting to have Annabeth sit next to her again, but Annabeth didn't care.

She walked away from her mother, without a second thought. She grabbed Percy's hand, and the two sat together, as far away from Athena as possible, so in other words next to Poseidon.

Athena realized in that moment that her daughter cared more for Percy Jackson, then she did for her. She didn't know what to feel.

Zeus was very curious, he wanted to know the fate of his precious bolt.

He opened the book and passed it to Nico, he was the first demigod he saw. "Begin reading."

Nico realized this wasn't a good time to argue, so he started the chapter.

"**I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus,"**

"Of course you do." Conner said.

"Why don't you ever invite us?" Travis asked.

"Because unlike you he doesn't do it on purpose." Annabeth explained.

Percy nodded. "I just have really bad luck."

**It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.**

**The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. **

"I can't believe they loaned you money." Travis said. He and Conner always had to get a creative loan, i.e. steal.

**These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies** **and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold**.

"Only the best for Gods" Apollo said proudly. He loved gold.

Artemis thought silver was better.

**Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.**

**Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom.**

Athena smiled at her daughter, she hoped Annabeth liked her gift.

"It was a nice gift mother." Annabeth said, she didn't want her mom to hate her.

**She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector**.

Annabeth realized Percy had a valid point. He just didn't understand the concept of the mist yet.

"You understand now, right?' Annabeth asked Percy.

"Yes." Percy said. He wasn't completely hopeless.

**Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.**

Will burst out laughing at this. "I will work with him."

"You couldn't help him." Thalia laughed.

"No one can." Percy said.

**We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.**

Thalia rolled her eyes at the whole daughter of Zeus thing. She preferred Thalia or Lieutenant of the hunt.

**Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security. He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.**

**"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."**

Half the room groaned.

"That is a terrible pun." Artemis moaned.

**I heard footsteps behind us.**

Annabeth sighed, she knew who it was.

**Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.**

Percy wished he had burned those shoes.

**"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."**

Thalia was glad she was finally going to find out what happened during this conversation. Annabeth had told her about it.

**Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.**

"I did not." Annabeth said half heartily. She knew she had. Why did Percy have to notice everything?

"It's ok." Percy whispered, he didn't care, no one should care.

Aphrodite wondered if there was going to be love triangle, the book had been quite dull up until this point.

**"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."**

"I love gifts." Apollo added for no apparent reason.

**He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal.**

Hermes wondered if he had given his son a pair of those.

Travis and Conner were muttering about those shoes along with their half brother Chris. They hated what Luke did to their cabin'd reputation.

Hermes thought they were jealous of the shoes. He would just grab a few extra pairs for them.

**Luke said,** **"**_**Maia**_**!"**

All Gods all laughed.

Apollo looked at his cousin and said. "Mommy's boy."

Hera on the other hand thought it was perfectly acceptable name.

Hermes was blushing.

**White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.**

**"Awesome!" Grover said.**

**Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.**

Annabeth wanted to slap him. His quest wasn't that bad, it wasn't worth the pain that it caused.

**I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days.**

Percy knew that he was right now.

Oh he does. Everyone thought. He is just biding his time.

**But here he was giving me a magic gift... It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.**

Annabeth groaned, damn Percy for being so observant.

Everyone was surprised that Percy thought so highly of Luke.

**"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."**

**"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"**

He will everyone thought.

**We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.**

Annabeth couldn't help but glare at Percy.

"Sorry, Annabeth but you did look like you would pass out." Percy said.

Annabeth couldn't stay mad at Percy, she never could.

**After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."**

No one made eye contacted with Annabeth. She was blushing furiously.

**"Am not."**

**"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"**

"Percy figured you out." Thalia said, she knew immediately that Percy was right.

Annabeth didn't answer. She did let Luke capture the flag. A decision that she regretted.

**"Oh... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"**

"Because you love him." Travis and Conner mocked.

Annabeth was ready to kill them.

Percy held her back.

**She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.**

**I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"**

Zeus nodded, "he won't be able to."

Thalia couldn't believe he was so petty. "It's not like he is flying a plane."

"The air is my domain," Zeus said."Like Poseidon is any better."

"He is" Nico and Thalia said together.

"What?" Hades and Zeus asked.

"I've been in Lakes and stuff, I'm not dead and I have never drowned." Nico said. He had been shadow travelling and landed a little farther than he meant to.

"I have gone through rivers and in the ocean." Thalia said. The hunters tracked monsters everywhere.

Poseidon was sitting on his throne very smugly. But Hades and Zeus hated being upstaged.

"Wait till you see him lose your temper, if you think we are bad, then you are in for a surprise." Hades muttered.

The demigods thought that sounded strangely like Percy. He was fair, but when he lost his temper he was deadly terrifying.

**He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy. But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."**

Luke hadn't meant well. The older demigods thought.

**I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"**

Hestia smiled she liked this demigod.

**His eyes lit up. "Me?"**

**Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.**

**"**_**Maia**_**!" he shouted.**

Hermes decided not to be embarrassed.

**He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.**

Leo liked Percy's descriptions. They made a lot of sense to him.

**"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"**

**"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.**

It was a weird description." Piper laughed.

"No it isn't" Percy said. He got a couple strange looks.

"Remember, this is what Percy thinks is normal." Annabeth explained.

Everyone laughed.

**Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."**

Percy didn't need more training, Annabeth thought.

Thalia hated Percy being compared to Hercules, especially after what he did to Zoe.

Artemis frowned at the mention of Hercules, she hoped that Percy was different, but she didn't have that much faith in him. He was still young.

**"That's okay. I just wish—"**

**I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. **

Percy was so embarrassed. He wouldn't look anyone in the eye.

**I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.**

Poseidon wondered why Chiron talking so long. He had given him riptide so long ago.

**"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."**

"Finally" Poseidon said. He didn't want his son to feel bad, when he could help it.

Percy smiled at his Dad.

**He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.**

"It is priceless." Annabeth said.

**"Gee," I said. "Thanks."**

**"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."**

**I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?**

"It was one cool sword." Leo said.

Jason had to agree.

Percy pulled out riptide, and he tossed it to Jason. "Check it out."

Jason was touched that Percy was letting him near his sword. To him that meant a lot, a sword was an important part of who you were. He had to uncap it, and do some practice thrusts. It was one nice sword.

**I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.**

"Things are getting interesting." Nico said. That sword was going to do some serious damage.

**"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me.**

**"Its name is Anaklusmos."**

Artemis wondered if it was the same sword. It probably was, it had a tragic history. She hated it already.

**"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.**

**"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary, of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."**

**I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" How could it not?**

Percy couldn't help but remember the time he ran Rachel threw. He laughed out loud.

"Don't tell me you tried it out on people?" Demeter said, she noticed the boys laughter.

"It was an accident." Percy defended. "And it was only one time."

Demeter shock her head.

**"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."**

"We are so lucky." Clarisse said bitterly.

All the demigods agreed.

**"Good to know."**

**"Now recap the pen."**

**I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.**

"Of course you lost pens," Annabeth moaned.

Percy shrugged, he lost everything.

**"You can't," Chiron said.**

**"Can't what?"**

**"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."**

"I want it." Leo moaned immediately, that was an epic pen.

"Sorry, but I'm kinda attached." Percy said.

**I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.**

**"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."**

**Sure enough, the pen was there.**

Jason couldn't believe how cool that sword was. He capped it and tossed it across the throne room.

**"Okay, that's extremely cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"**

**Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."**

"Thanks Jason," Percy said, his sword was back.

"That is so cool." Jason stated. Zeus frowned, Jason's sword was just as cool.

**"Mist?"**

**"Yes. Read **_**The Iliad. **_**It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans.**

"Has anyone actually read the Iliad?" Leo asked.

Only Annabeth and Malcolm raised their hands. Athena was proud of her children.

**You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."**

**I put Riptide back in my pocket.**

**For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.**

"Well someone is positive." Annabeth said, she never realized that Percy had so little faith in their quest.

**"Chiron ..." I said. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"**

"Why does he want to know that?" Apollo asked. He wasn't around yet, it wasn't important.

"Why don't you let the child read to find out." Artemis answered.

**"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age,**

"Please it wasn't the Golden Age" Demeter complained.

**which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."**

"Barely better" Hera huffed, she was quite bitter.

**"So what was it like ... before the gods?"**

"You wanted to be sure we didn't mess up the whole world." Annabeth said. Why didn't he just ask her?

"Ya" Percy answered.

**Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge. But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. **

"That sounds awful." Leo said.

Zeus glanced at the demigod. "No duh, child."

Leo blushed, he couldn't believe the King of Gods told him off.

**It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall. Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."**

**"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything**_**, **_**right?"**

Mr. D was surprised, he expected him to be like the other Heroes arrogant. Perhaps he would only be nerve racking annoying opposed too unbearably annoying.

**Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment,** **reduced in power, but still very much alive. May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."**

"It just so happens' Percy's destiny sucks." Thalia said. She partly blamed herself for that. She chose to join the hunt, no longer being the child of the prophecy meant that Percy was screwed.

**"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."**

**"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."**

"No pressure" Jason muttered.

**"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."**

"Right" Conner said "And I am a model citizen."

A few of the demigods chuckled.

**When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.**

"For us it is." Annabeth said.

**Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. **

"I understand that." Jason said, everything is so strange after being at Camp Half-Blood. He had a feeling that he stayed out of the mortal world for the most part.

**I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.**

**"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."**

"Jinx" Katie said.

**She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."**

**"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"**

**"I don't hate you."**

"You seemed to hate him." Jason said.

Annabeth sighed.

**"Could've fooled me."**

**She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."**

"I never understood why we have to hate the kids of our parents' enemies?" Leo asked.

All the demigods looked at each other, they didn't have an answer.

"Because our parents annoying." Annabeth said, "Anyways we don't do that anymore."

All the Olympians looked uncomfortable.

**"Why?"**

"There are so many reasons." Athena moaned. Her Uncle was just mean.

**She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful.**

Poseidon groaned, they never dated. Plus the temple was just convenient. Athena would never understand the power of lust.

**Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift.**

Poseidon raised his eyebrow.

"I didn't make mean it like that." Annabeth said quickly.

**My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."**

**"They must really like olives."**

Poseidon didn't see the value of olives, he thought they tasted funny.

**"Oh, forget it."**

**"Now, if she'd invented pizza—**_**that **_**I could understand."**

Athena couldn't believe the demigod was mocking her.

Poseidon on the other hand burst out laughing. His son was only getting better.

Percy smiled at his Dad.

**"I said, forget it!"**

**In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.**

"He knew all along." Katie guessed.

"Knew what?" Athena asked.

Katie didn't know what to say. Athena would freak if she knew how long the two had a crush on each other.

"Annabeth will always get annoyed at Percy." Thalia said. "Back then at least."

Aphrodite on the other hand burst out with the truth. "Flirting, tension, they like each other."

The two just shrugged. At the time neither of them understood what their feelings meant.

**Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.**

**Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?**

"I don't remember seeing that Poster." Annabeth said, and she was sure she wouldn't have forgotten.

**I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.**

Annabeth wished that Percy had talked to them, they would have understood.

**Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.**

**I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.**

Hades so the look of pain on his brothers face. He knew that Poseidon had loved Sally, he understood what it felt like to watch the women you love suffer.

Hades whispered "Don't worry he will suffer for all eternity, that's a promise."

Poseidon nodded in thanks to his brother. No matter how dysfunctional there family was, they were still family.

Percy knew what was coming. "Please just don't say anything."

Everyone agreed.

**Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"**

All the demigods, but Annabeth were curious.

"Should we be reading this?" Katie asked, she felt like she was invading a private conversation.

Athena said softly "we can't argue with the fates." She had a heart too.

**I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"**

**"Just your emotions." He shrugged.** **"Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that.**

"Convenient." Travis said, perhaps Grover had potential.

**You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"**

All the demigods were curious, why hadn't Percy mentioned him.

**I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me.**

**"Your mom married Gabe for you**_**, "**_**Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."**

Thalia realized and was shocked, she knew that Sally was a strong women, she just had no idea how strong.

**"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"**

The demigods smiled even in the worst situations Percy could make a joke.

**"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod. As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago. Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."**

Artemis thought that if she had met Sally sooner, she gladly would have offered her a spot in the hunt. She was a brave and tough woman.

Everyone who knew Percy knew that it would make him feel worse.

**It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it.**

"A skill that would have been appreciated at the Roman camp." Jason said.

No one said anything about Gabe which Percy was grateful for. He had done his best to forget about Gabe, he didn't want to think about him now.

**I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.**

Hades realized the demigod was persistent, but he would not succeed. He had a reputation to keep up. It didn't matter that he thought the mortal was a good women.

**I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.**

**The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt,**

"I hate this demigod." Zeus declared, how could he not care about his precious lightning bolt?

"Hey!" Percy shouted. "I'm sitting right here."

"Are you really surprised?" Annabeth whispered. "Of course he hates you."

Hera on the other hand was starting to see eye to eye with Percy.

**or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble.**

Poseidon didn't want to feel hurt, but he was.

Percy didn't look at his father.

**The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check.**

"He has a valid reason to feel this way." Thalia said, she thought it was annoyance on Poseidon's face, not hurt and regret.

Annabeth nudged Thalia. She knew that Percy didn't feel that way anymore.

Percy didn't know what to say.

**He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.**

"You are a Son of the Sea I would have claimed you regardless of the quest. I had to wait until Chiron brought you to camp." Poseidon said, he waited for the most opportune time. It just so happened the timing came in useful for him.

"I know you would dad." Percy said, he just wondered when.

**All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly and Hades was going to give her back.**

"It doesn't matter if you are confident. Sorry" Hades said. That's when he realized that he was slightly sorry.

Percy shrugged, he couldn't say anything.

Hera was impressed with this demigod, which was strange. She never liked demigods, but this one cared deeply for his mother, a quality she admired. She wished one of her own children cared for her that deeply.

_**You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, **_**the Oracle whispered in my mind. **_**You will fail to save what matters most in the end.**_

_**Shut up, **_**I told it.**

Apollo chuckled. The Oracle words always haunted heroes. It was a fact of life.

**The rain kept coming down.**

**We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable.**

"Who knew?" Will said. "I thought you were allergic to fun."

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

**She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.**

Annabeth remembered that, she and Percy played Hacky Sack all the time. But it had been to long since their last game.

**The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.**

Everyone burst out laughing. That was such a Grover thing to do.

**Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up.**

**Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas.**

"Searching for monsters." Piper said.

Annabeth wished it was more effective that time.

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."**

**But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.**

Annabeth wished Percy had said something, unlike him she didn't doubt instincts, she was also feeling slightly nervous. She had thought it was just the quest.

**I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our back packs. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.**

**As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee.**

"Ohhh la owwww oww" Travis went from mocking to pain. Annabeth punched him hard on the shoulder.

Percy laughed, and high fived Annabeth.

**"Percy."**

**An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat.**

Hades thought perhaps he did want the demigod dead.

**It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.**

"More furies?" Jason asked incredulously.

**I scrunched down in my seat.**

"That won't help" Clarisse laughed, he should stand up and fight.

Ares agreed with his daughter, he needed to get up and fight those furies.

**Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.**

Poseidon's eyes widened. Damn his family to the pits of Tartarus.

Thalia hated those things, they had basically killed her.

Jason wondered how Annabeth and Percy didn't die.

**They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.**

**The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."**

**"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."**

"Understatement of the century," Will pointed out.

No one disagreed.

**"All three of them," Grover whimpered.**_**"Di immortales!"**_

**"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."**

**"They don't open," Grover moaned.**

**"A back exit?" she suggested.**

**There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.**

"You are screwed." Leo said.

"We realized!" Annabeth shouted, it wasn't a fun time.

Athena wondered how it was possible for Annabeth two have survived.

**"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"**

"Witnesses don't slow them down." Hades said, he couldn't help the pride in his voice. Nico watched his father, it was strange to see him proud of monsters. He was rarely proud of him.

**"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."**

**"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"**

**She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"**

Athena realized how desperate Annabeth sounded.

**We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.**

**Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."**

**"So do I," said the second sister.**

**"So do I," said the third sister.**

The Gods laughed. Hades was slightly embarrassed.

**They all started coming down the aisle.**

**"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."**

**"What?"**

**"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."**

Athena wondered if Percy actually left his daughter.

**"But you guys—"**

**"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."**

Thalia laughed "like Percy would ever leave you."

Everyone agreed.

**"I can't just leave you."**

"See" Thalia said.

Percy shrugged, they were right he would never leave his friends.

**"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"**

**My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.**

Thalia was surprised, but she was still sure he would help.

Poseidon was glad that he was protecting himself.

**When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.**

**I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.**

**Mrs. Dodds stopped, sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.**

**Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.**

**I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button **

Thalia knew that Percy would do something.

Poseidon wished Percy had kept himself out of danger.

Athena was no longer as annoyed, she never would have forgiven Percy if he left Annabeth behind.

**when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.**

**The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—**

Nico laughed at that. "You have no idea how ugly they can be."

**but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.**

**The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"**

Athena wondered what the 'it' was. It was strange that they were referring to Percy as an it.

**The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.**

"They just got it backwards." Annabeth complained.

**"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"**

**The Furies raised their whips.**

**Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.**

The demigods chuckled.

**What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.**

"Not year, ADHD poster child of the decade." Annabeth said.

Percy smiled.

**The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rear view mirror.**

**Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.**

Everyone was slightly impressed.

**"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"**

**We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, throwing sparks a mile behind us.**

**We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.**

**Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.**

**Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.**

Annabeth laughed, honestly the idea worked.

"I wondered what you call a bad idea." Athena said.

"You don't want to know." Percy answered.

**The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.**

**The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.**

"The greatest weapon!" Conner declared.

"All hail the mighty tin cans" Travis laughed.

**I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. **

Athena liked the fact that he was staying to help her daughter, but she knew that loyalty was dangerous quality.

**I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"**

"Got to give you points for bravery," Piper said.

"Thanks." Percy said.

**The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test. Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.**

**Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.**

**"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."**

"Wait till he actually offends you" Will laughed.

The Gods looked at each other uncomfortably.

**"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.**

"He needs to work on his insults." Hermes said looking towards his sons.

The three of them nodded.

Percy frowned, he thought he was a great trash talker.

**She growled.**

**Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.**

"Why is _my_ son being a distraction?" Poseidon moaned.

"Because I do impulsive things." Percy answered.

**I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.**

**The Furies hesitated.**

Jason's eyebrows rose. Why would a fury be afraid of him?

Hades was wondering the same thing, his furies never hesitated.

**Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.**

Everyone assumed that made sense.

**"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."**

**"Nice try," I told her.**

**"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.**

"Someone's worried" Thalia teased.

**Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.**

Everyone was listening with interest.

Ares was finally enjoying the book.

**My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. **

That was impressive, people thought.

**I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. **

"O' my Gods" Piper exclaimed. That was intense.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Travis asked.

"Yah we like the hearing about monsters being destroyed." Conner said.

Annabeth and Percy shrugged, there was always more important things to talk about.

**Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward**

Thalia high-fived Annabeth.

**while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.**

**"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"**

**The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.**

Poseidon was beaming with Pride.

Hades wondered why his furies were going so easy? The demigods had skills, but his furies should be trying harder.

**Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.**

Nico wanted to watch that.

**"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. **

Zeus smiled at the sound of that.

**"Hades will have your soul!"**

"I will have all of your souls." Hades said darkly.

Poseidon just groaned.

**"**_**Braccas meas vescimini**_**!" I yelled.**

Jason burst out laughing. So did the Gods.

Everyone else was confused. Annabeth had always wondered what he said.

**I wasn't sure where the Latin came from.**

**I think it meant "Eat my pants!"**

Annabeth laughed, it was so her seaweed brain.

"We will work with him on his insults." Travis and Conner promised Hermes.

"He gets better," Thalia assured. It was hard to get worse.

Hades wondered how confused Aleto was by that insult.

Percy wasn't embarrassed. At the time it was the right thing to say.

**Thunder shook the bus. **

"Great your other Uncle joins the party." Poseidon growled.

**The hair rose on the back of my neck.**

**"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement.**

**We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.**

**"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"**

_**BOOOOOM**_**!**

Zeus smiled, he liked to make an impact.

**The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.**

**"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"**

**We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.**

"That was a cheery chapter." Nico said as he flipped to the next chapter.

Percy stood up. "Um... guys, I just wanted you to know Gabe wasn't that bad. I mean towards me. My mom took care of me, so don't worry."

Everyone nodded, they didn't want to mention him again, and Percy should pretend that he never existed.

"I believe we have time to continue reading." Zeus said.

"Who wants to read next?" Nico asked.

* * *

Author's Note:

I want to thank everyone for there awesome reviews, I am so glad you liked what you are reading, I will try my best to keep the upcoming chapters as good, and try to get better. Sorry for any and all mistakes, I tried proof reading.

Can't wait for House of Hades, it's only 3 DAYS AWAY!

One final thing this chapter is dedicated to sk8r2999 thanks for the awesome message :D

Enjoy guys


End file.
